


Most Precious

by morrezela



Series: A Man's Fortune [7]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Baby Dragon, Eggs, F/F, M/M, Mates, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 10:50:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4432724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrezela/pseuds/morrezela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen has been his dragon’s rider for a while now. He finds that he is content. That, of course, means that Jared is just going to tip his world sideways again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Most Precious

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This isn’t real. The people mentioned belong to themselves. I am receiving no remuneration from this.
> 
> Warnings: Dragon!fic, baby!fic
> 
> A/N: This was written for my alphabet fic meme for the letter “d.” The word picked was “dragonling.”
> 
> I had originally planned for this work to be longer, but I felt it had a natural ending where it was. So if you saw this on my Live Journal when I was posting it, you may notice that the warnings changed to reflect my decision to end it in a different spot.
> 
> All mistakes that you find are my own.

Jensen sometimes wonders if maybe he is just a little insane. It is certainly possible. He cannot imagine any of his old friends giving up their lives and their village to move into a dragon’s lair. He can’t envision a one of them sitting astride another male’s lap, lowering their bodies down on a hard cock and taking pleasure from it. He certainly couldn’t fathom them soothing such a large beast with words and kisses and songs, nor caring for him when he felt ill or sad.

No, his friends would’ve left Jared to die long ago and bragged about it. They’d have let him suffer his loneliness into death and dragged his dull scales home to Jensen’s father to have them worked into some sort of trophy to hang over their mantle. If they knew what Jensen was actually doing with his life, they’d arrange a hunting party to slay Jared and maybe even kill Jensen himself only to turn around and immortalize him as some brainwashed victim

Jensen is glad that he was not one of his friends, but that doesn’t keep him from questioning his own mind about things.

For instance: he hasn’t the foggiest clue why he agreed to let Jared’s parents come for a visit.

Jared has been fanatically polishing and dusting and in general spiffing up his treasure for days.  His flights have been later in the day than his norm. Chasing quickly through the skies instead of making a spectacle of himself to the humans interloping on his territory, he appeared to take none of his usual comfort in the act. Instead he would race home and start in on some new project.

He has barely been to bed and has hardly had the strength to cuddle with Jensen when he does finally collapse in it let alone the vigor to do anything more exciting. He still kisses Jensen in the morning and will occasionally grope him should he come into the dining room for lunch, but his supper is made out on the mountainside. Much as Jensen might love his dragon, he has no desire to see Jared eat any sort of animal raw let alone the size of beast Jared can chew down when he is in his natural form, so the option of joining him is not one that Jensen wants to take even if he can get over his flight issues.

If his in-laws are such finicky people that they require such perfection, Jensen will quite gladly never meet them. He makes the mistake of saying as much to Jared, meanly going on about them when he found Jared asleep in a pile of fine linens that he’d been ironing to perfection. He accuses them of all manner of heinous things including baby dragon abuse.

That doesn’t go over well at all. Jared defends his parents with such fervor that Jensen begins to feel oddly jealous. He supposes it is the result of spending so much time being the focus of Jared’s affections. Maybe it is just his mind adopting some of his dragon’s more selfish tendencies. Whatever the cause, Jensen finds himself sleeping alone that night. It is cold in the bedroom without Jared’s large presence nearby, and Jensen curses the day that he ever set foot on the mountain, for his heart cannot bear to curse Jared directly.

He wakes to the sound of Jared going through the wardrobe in their room. Pulling out drawers and just as quickly slamming them shut, Jared looks determined, his normally cheerful countenance twisted into a frown. If they hadn’t fought the night before, Jensen would be tempted to try to kiss away the expression. As it is, he merely scowls. No doubt his kisses and affection are neither wanted nor desired.

“What are you doing?” he finally asks after observing Jared’s frantic digging for several minutes.

“Looking for something for you to wear,” Jared replies distractedly.

“I’m certain I can handle that myself. Been doing it for years now,” Jensen says as mildly as he can. He wants to fight about it. Truly he does. But they don’t have time for a full argument before his lover’s parents arrive, and Jensen has no desire to make a spectacle of himself.

Jared doesn’t respond. He just keeps rifling through the drawers like a dog digging a hole.

“I’m so glad that you have time to do that,” Jensen mutters as he shoves the covers off his body and rolls out of bed.

“You’re still angry,” Jared says, realization apparently dawning on him.

“Of course I’m still angry, Jared. You didn’t come to bed last night, and now you’re treating me like a damned doll.”

“But you’re my…”

“If you call me your greatest treasure right now, I may very well hit you,” Jensen threatens.

Jared turns from what he is doing to move over towards his rider. Jensen stiffens as he draws near, his body having no problem remembering how to tense at the dragon’s approach even though ages have passed since the last time that Jared’s nearness had been anything but welcome. Jared’s gaze sweeps over Jensen’s body, and he stops his advance instead of stubbornly moving forward as Jensen expects him to, “Do you not want their approval?”

“I would very much dislike to have it if it involves this falsehood. Bad enough that I have to lie to my own father with every letter I send, now I have to watch you pretty things up, pretty _me_ up to meet with their approval? Am I defective, Jared? Does this have something to do with, with me leaving?”

“No, Jensen…”

“Because I can understand that,” Jensen continues, ignoring Jared’s attempt to answer his question, “I can understand why they would be hesitant about me. But I cannot show them falseness in order to gain their favor.”

“No, Jensen, no,” Jared says as his large hand reaches out to wrap itself around Jensen’s wrist, gentle despite the way that it looks. “You are my rider, and what is precious to me must be precious to them as well. It is no other way.”

“And yet you neglect me for them anyway? Do not lie to me, Jared. If I am precious to you still, then there must be some other reason that…”

A dragon’s scream pierces the morning air. Higher and far more musical than Jared’s typically off pitch bellows, it could have been mistaken for a very large wind instrument. Jared’s head cocks to one side, and Jensen can see the desire to leave flash through his eyes. Yet Jared doesn’t move to go greet their guests. Instead he stands there with his hand wrapped around Jensen’s wrist and gives it a gentle tug as if to pull Jensen forward into an embrace.

Jensen sighs and pulls his hand free. “Go. I’m not dressed, and I refuse to meet them in my sleeping apparel.”

“I will wait,” Jared declares solemnly.

“Just go, Jared. It will look worse if we’re both late.”

“No.”

“You want to,” Jensen argues as he began to strip, nose wrinkling at the realization that he isn’t going to be able to sneak in a shave let alone a bath if he doesn’t want to truly insult their visitors with his lateness.

“I want to make my beloved happy so that he shines. So I will wait for him.”

“I’m not going to start ‘shining’ in the next ten minutes, and I don’t want your parents digging through our, your things. Don’t tell me they won’t. I’ve seen dragon curiosity.”

“I could make you glow,” Jared suggests gently, hesitantly.

If it weren’t for the fact that Jared looks completely clueless as to why Jensen is upset, Jensen would be very offended by the notion that now of all times Jared is suggesting that they engage in sexual pursuits. Still, the proposition merits a little indignation at least. “I’m not going to have sex with you right now!”

“I wasn’t suggesting full sex. I was just thinking you might like a blow job.”

“In the five minutes that it’s going to take your parents to find us?”

Jared’s chest puffs out. “It’d take at least ten. My lair is very large and spacious.”

“Oh, that’s so much better.”

“It isn’t as if they don’t know what a rider does with his dragon,” Jared points out.

“Just go,” Jensen says wearily. He is very unwilling to explain propriety to Jared once again, especially given the circumstances.

Jared looks unhappy with the request, but he leaves. Presumably he recognizes that he isn’t going to be winning any more points with Jensen if he stays.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming to a party late is fashionable in rich circles, or so Jensen has heard. Having been raised by working parents, he was taught that being late was rude.  From the expression on Jared’s father’s face, so was he. Then again, Jensen doesn’t care so much what the bastard thinks.

“Jensen!” Jared is beaming as he basically stumbles over to his rider and drags him back to stand in front of his parents.

“This is my mother and my father-rider,” Jared declares proudly as if Jensen doesn’t already know who they are.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Jensen mumbles as he holds his hand out to Jared’s father. He halfheartedly squeezes at the mammoth hand that is offered in return.

Jared tenses beside him, his generous mouth turning down into the tiniest of frowns. Jared’s father narrows his eyes at Jensen, and Jensen doesn’t blame the man. A soft handshake is either a sign of great weakness or one of disrespect. Given the muscles that Jensen has developed and his somewhat rocky past with their son, feebleness of character is not an issue of his.

Jared mother’s voice trills in laughter. Jensen assumes it is because of the three of them unless Jared has conveniently forgotten to mention dementia running in the family. “Jared, your rider loathes us entirely. Whatever did you tell the poor boy?”

Jared’s father flinches, and Jensen finds his eyes studying the flecks of color in the grey stone floor he is standing on. Jared’s forthrightness must come from his mother. Such outright declarations are forbidden in human circles unless one plans on drawing swords, but dragon society, at least what Jensen knows of it from Jared, seems to not have such false niceties built into it.

“I… He is merely…” Jared stutters helplessly by Jensen’s side. Jensen feels the tiniest bit sorry for his dragon. To choose between one’s lover and one’s parents is a difficult thing to be sure.

Jared’s mother interrupts him with a soft click of her tongue. Her bare feet slide into Jensen’s view before she grabs hold of his chin and tilts his eyes upwards. Her hair is loose about her shoulders, as thick as Jared’s own, but longer. Her eyes are the same changing color, but they lack the exotic tilt of her son’s. Her body is wrapped up in a brown cloak and likely nothing else.

Next to her, Jared’s father grunts his disapproval and levels a glare in Jensen’s direction. His dragon turns to swat him in the stomach. “Behave,” she orders her rider.

“He…”

“He is angry with us for stealing his dragon’s affections away from him. This is a good thing, and you should be proud of him for such devotion instead of worrying about your own feelings. Jared needs a faithful rider,” she cuts her rider’s rant off with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Jensen opens his mouth to protest her statement. He isn’t jealous. But Jared’s eyes soften as he stared at Jensen. Sorrow and a pleased smugness dance around in them.

f he was in a more giving mood, Jensen would be gratified that Jared is finally feeling remorse for abandoning him in favor of housework. As it is, he is quite put out with Jared’s behavior. So he embraces the petulant anger that built at seeing the self satisfied glint. Jared is pleased that Jensen is jealous, and he isn’t going to encourage the stupid dragon.

“Oh, you are very spirited. I knew that Jared had a preference that way, but I thought for certain he would settle down with somebody more… lenient,” Jared’s mother purrs as she starts raking her fingers through Jensen’s hair.

Jensen freezes. He barely lets Jared do that. While he has no great desire to make nice with Jared’s parents, his head is in the hands of a very powerful dragoness. Prudency dictates that he should remain on at least neutral standing with her if he would like to keep it attached to his neck.

Jared’s father snorts and sighs.

“You don’t approve,” Jared hisses, his chest puffing out and his eyes narrowing at his father-rider.

Jensen jerks his head out of the hands of the dragoness to stare at his own dragon. He has only seen Jared spew fire once, but his posture looks alarmingly similar for Jared not being in his natural form.

“He wishes to change you,” Jared’s father says.

Jared growls low in his throat, and his mother moves between her rider and her son.

As much as he would have liked to have seen Jared be a little less obsessive about his parent’s arrival, Jensen has no desire to see a family fight that involves two dragons. For one thing, his leather working room is nearby and smoke is very difficult to work out of the material let alone actual burn marks.

Still, “Maybe he needs changing,” might not be the best thing to say to interrupt the impending fight.

“What?” Both of the other men’s responses echo in chorus in the cavern.

“You think yourself unchanged for being with her?” Jensen says towards the other human as he gestures at Jared’s mother. “You think her unchanged for being with you? It is a natural byproduct of marriage, and I should think that you would respect that. As for your place, it is no longer yours to decide what is best for Jared. I am his rider, and it is my station now. And this, this is…” Jensen trails off, his courage leaving him as he looks at the three sets of eyes staring at him in disbelief.

Jared moves over to him and places a hand on his shoulder. “This is Jensen’s home, and he has say here with his dragon,” he finishes though he addresses it towards Jensen as if whispering sweet nothings instead of talking for the benefit of his parents.

“Then I give my blessing,” Jared’s mother says.

Jensen frowns while Jared starts beaming, and Jared’s father lets out a disgruntled, “Now wait just a minute!”

“Don’t argue, my pretty rider,” the dragoness says dismissively towards Jared’s father.

“You can’t just give blanket approval to a man who you barely know…”

“Enough! Truly, Jarvis, you begin to annoy me with your prattling. My father and my father-rider gave their blessing to you easily enough, did they not? Knew you for very little time. Father saw you to be pretty and well kept, and saw how you treasured me. It was enough for you, it is enough for them. It is just enough.”

“It is different. He is different! He almost killed our son, now you want to trust him with your own grandchild?”

“You think like a human,” she hisses.

“And Jared thinks too much like a dragon! He is besotted and thinking unclearly. It is our job to protect him!”

“I rather think that’s my job,” Jensen interrupts quietly, “and I think that if you are to claim humanity, then you should obey its customs of propriety in speaking of and to me. Because you had no problem leaving my mother for her, because you had no problem leaving your family for your dragon, you think it a crime that I did. So be it. I understand that you would have some misgivings about me. But it is Jared’s choice to be with me, and you will not be able to change that.”

Jared’s father sucks in a breath, but doesn’t say anything as his dragon swats him in the stomach causing him to cough and wheeze that same breath back out.

“You’re adorable,” she tells Jensen as her rider gasps and sputters out curses to the room in general.

Jensen isn’t sure if he should be insulted or complimented, so he smiles wanly at her and hopes for the best.

Jared fumes beside him shooting nasty looks at his father. “I have half a mind to send you back and deny you sleeping in Jensen’s home,” Jared mutters sullenly.

To Jensen’s surprise, the dragoness doesn’t attempt to naysay Jared’s proclamation even though Jarvis looks both shocked and hurt by it. Regardless of what Jensen feels for them, they are still Jared’s parents. If it was his own father standing there insulting Jared, he would feel the need to defend him, but that wouldn’t mean that he would feel no sorrow at having to see him leave.

Gently, he places a hand on Jared’s arm. “Jared,” he whispers, “it would be rude to send them away now without letting them rest first.”

Jensen can’t bring himself to tell his dragon that it is okay or that he welcomes their visit, but the flight is surely a long and tiresome one. Even if Jensen doesn’t know exactly where their lair is, he did gather that Jared’s parents lived a good while away. Jensen doesn’t get all of the ins and outs of how dragons manage to communicate with each other when not in close proximity, but he knows it is difficult for Jared to talk to his mother. He has to assume that the distance is an inhibitor to that even if it isn’t an outright obstacle.

And Jensen cannot fault Jared’s mother for her manners. She has been friendly even if she is very dragon-ish in her demeanor. He can’t blame her for her nature any more than he can blame Jared for his. Besides, his own mother’s family had looked down upon his father. It isn’t as if Jensen is unique in having one of his in-laws dislike him even though his circumstances are somewhat different from the average human’s.

“You are certain?” Jared asks as his eyes dart back and forth between his parents and Jensen shifting so fast that Jensen cannot tell what color they are to help him gauge Jared’s mood and feelings.

“You haven’t seen your mother in ages,” Jensen replies with as neutral of a response as he can. Jared frowns at the words, but he seems to take Jensen’s offer for what it is and not push for a more positive statement.

“Jared,” his mother says, “why don’t you take your father to see your animals? You know how he likes his farm creatures.”

Jared scowls a little bit at that, and Jensen doesn’t blame him. He wouldn’t want to be alone with Jarvis right now either. That and the ploy for Jared’s mother to be alone with Jensen is an obvious one. But even though Jared’s distaste at the idea is clear, Jensen knows that he is going to cave in and do it if for no other reason than it will get Jarvis away from Jensen.

“Go,” Jared’s mother says to her rider before his mouth even opens to voice his opinion. Jared stomps off down the stone pathway, and his father trails after both of them looking as sullen as boys sent to bed without their supper.

Jensen would’ve expected it to be awkward to be alone with the dragoness, but instead he finds it oddly comforting to be near her. She exudes a soothing and motherly calm. Her features are fine and pretty, but he can only notice it in an abstract way. Jensen supposes that he is too far gone and smitten with his own dragon to be besotted by the physical attractions of another.

“You should call me Lered,” she tells him after a moment. “I suspect that you don’t feel comfortable enough to call me your dragon-mother yet, and Jared no doubt failed to mention my name to you. He’s always been a bit excitable and prone to forget helpful details.”

Jensen nods because her statements are true, and he doesn’t have much to add that wouldn’t come across as insulting.

“You are very pretty. Prettier than his sister’s rider, that is for certain, but she has a lagoon at the bottom of her lair, so she has that at least,” Lered informs him as she wanders around the room looking at the tiny knickknacks that Jared has decorated the space with.

There isn’t much to look at. The room itself is basically missing a wall because of the way it opens up to the main ledge that Jared takes off from and lands on. It is subjected to the elements of nature on a regular basis, and the downdrafts from Jared’s wings sometimes stir the air in the room and knock more breakable items around.

To liven things up a bit, Jensen has painted some artwork on the worn stone surfaces. Jared had been thrilled when he had suggested the idea and had spent weeks flying to and fro, collecting the perfect paints to make pictures on his walls. The murals are rudimentary. Jensen’s skill with dyes is in his leatherworking not in fancy strokes from a paint brush. But as hiring a more skilled artisan was out of the question, he was pleased enough with the results.

Of course, he had never envisioned somebody other than Jared looking at his handiwork. Jared’s default setting was to be complimentary of everything that Jensen did. It had taken him ages to realize that it wasn’t Jared trying to ingratiate himself to his rider so much as the dragon being so besotted that he thought everything Jensen touched was perfect. Now that somebody other than Jared is looking at his handiwork, Jensen finds himself apprehensive.

“These are very nice,” Lered says as she trails a hand over one of Jared’s favorite scenes. “They make your lair seem warm and welcoming.”

Jensen holds his tongue, uncertain of what to say. As far as he knows, welcoming is not a desired attribute for a dragon’s lair.

“You love my son very much?” Lered asks, her eyes narrowing in on him with her abrupt change of subject. The orbs do not appear suspicious, but they are not friendly either.

“I do,” Jensen chokes out even though his instinct is to bristle at being interrogated in his own home.

Lered nods to herself once and turns to examine a different section of Jensen’s murals. “I am supposed to take stock of Jared’s treasures, make certain that all is in order, but I know my son. His storehouses and hoard have been ready for ages it seems. The only missing treasure was always his rider.”

Jensen allows his brow to furrow in confusion, but doesn’t make a sound to indicate his confusion.

“You are not what I ever expected,” she continues as she stares at the scene of two knights jousting. A princess stands in the background ready to grant her favor to the victor.

“I am not certain what you mean,” Jensen finally admits.

Lered sighs and strolls over to him, stopping just short of touching him, close enough for him to feel her unnatural body heat. “Mates sometimes run, sometimes they kill their dragons and sometimes their families come and kill the both of them. It is difficult to know the truth of a situation when a rider is reluctant to be with his dragon. Jared was always insistent that he wouldn’t entice his rider. He wanted the stronger bond that comes with his mate choosing him instead of being charmed.”

Jensen flushes and tries to look away. “He succeeded,” he mumbles.

“Yes, but not how I expected. Jared has always been sensitive for our kind. I expected his rider to be gentle with him, and you are not. When you ran from him, it nearly killed him. Jarvis has not forgiven you for that.”

“I gathered that much.”

Lered smiles at Jensen’s words. “I think that most would have. Jarvis is not subtle.”

“So why are you here then? Parting me from Jared would hurt him, and we’ve lived long enough without your blessing. Not that I want to be at odds with you,” Jensen adds, wishing he’d held his tongue a little more firmly.

Lered tilts her head quizzically. “Jared said nothing about our purpose in coming, did he? He always was romantic fool. Believes in riders being judged for who they are and not making them put on a show.”

Jensen tries not to let his befuddlement show, but he assumes he is unsuccessful by the way that Lered’s expression turns to one of indulgence verging on pity for the poor, stupid human. “We are here for the dragon’s blessing, pretty rider,” she tells him solemnly.

“The what?”

“The dragon’s blessing,” she repeats then huffs an annoyed breath out, steam rising slightly from her dainty human nostrils. “You don’t know what that is either, do you?”

Jensen shakes his head.

“When a dragon and his or her rider chooses to take the next step in their bonding, they should seek the dragon’s blessing of their parent riders and parent dragons. This is not to ensure that the dragon has chosen correctly, for a dragon cannot chose one who is not his or her rider. But it is to make certain that the rider is safe for other dragons to be near. If the rider is not safe, there is nothing that can be done for the dragon who is bonded to him, but others can be protected,” Lered explains.

“So this allows Jared to take me visiting?” Jensen asks. It seems an odd concept. Jared’s protective and hoarding nature is a common dragon trait as far as Jensen had been told.

Lered hesitates for a moment before answering him with, “You could go without a blessing, but it would be unlikely that many would open their lairs to you. Many hatchlings have been slain by riders who could not bear to part with humanity’s silly ideas. Eggs have even been shattered by booted heals. Or worse – stolen and sold on backstreet markets like dirty treasure that has been ill kept.”

“I’m not planning on doing any of that. I doubt I even have the skill let alone the heart,” Jensen says. He had always been terrified of Jared back before he was dared to climb on the dragon’s mountain. The thought of taking up arms against one was unfathomable. Jensen was no match for the claws and jaws of a dragon even if he did wish all the ills of the world upon one.

Just the thought of killing an infant dragon hurt his head. He had found a nest of baby mice once after the family cat had killed their mother. He can still remember staring at their tiny, naked and blind bodies thinking about how he should just stop their misery. He hadn’t been able to end them, and instead stole supplies from his mother’s pantry to feed and then wean them into adulthood. His parents had complained mightily about how healthy the mice were later in the season, but Jensen had never been able to summon the appropriate amount of guilt for his actions.

Lered smiles at him. “I know you’re not the kind of human to kill a little one. That is why I gave out blessing before Jarvis could blather on too much. Fights are best saved for ones trying to invade and steal from one’s lair. Being at odds with another rider is usually pointless, but sometimes humans just don’t understand that.”

“I suppose we don’t.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The day that Lered takes her rider back their lair puts Jensen in a fantastic mood. He hates to be one of _those_ son-in-laws, but he doubts that he and Jarvis are going to be getting along any time soon. They are both too prone to harbor grudges. Even though Jensen has directly benefitted twice from the man’s choice to break his engagement with Jensen’s mother, he found himself at odds with Jarvis more than not during his stay at the lair.  
  
Not to mention that it was very difficult to patch up his relationship with Jared while his parents were around. For one thing, Jensen wasn’t in the mood for sex when there were issues that needed to be discussed. For another thing, Jensen wasn’t in the mood for sex when Jared’s very snoopy parents could hear them. For a third thing, Jensen hadn’t had sex for what felt like ages before his in-laws arrived, and it was putting him in a sour mood that kept him from wanting to pursue carnal pleasures.  
  
“You are very, very pretty,” Jared says as he ambles into Jensen’s leatherworking room. The extended visit from the in-laws had improved Jensen’s productivity in his craft as he had disappeared into his room more often than not to escape the wrathful stare of Jarvis and the amused smile of Lered.  
  
“Your attempts to get me out of my pants are starting to become obvious,” Jensen answers his dragon, though he cannot bring his voice to the sternness that his chiding would normally possess. There is, after all, only so long that he can punish Jared for not informing him better about his parents’ visit.  
  
“Lies,” Jared says smugly as he creeps closer, “you wish to undo your trousers for me. I have seen the evidence of it in the mornings.”  
  
Blushing furiously and internally cursing himself because he should be immune to such an action after being around Jared so long, Jensen dabs a little too much green dye onto the leather he is crafting. Before he can swear at either himself or his dragon, Jared coos excitedly.  
  
“Pretty!” he exclaims happily at the growing blotch of color.  
  
“You have a fixation with the color green,” Jensen grunts even as he changes his dabbing to just remove the excess pooling that would cause drip patterns and instead allows more dye to sink in than he originally planned.  
  
“You noticed,” Jared says as he finishes coming up behind Jensen to place his hands possessively on Jensen’s hipbones.  
  
Far too used to Jared attempting to interrupt his work, Jensen ignores the way that Jared’s fingers rub against the fabric of his pants. The heat along Jensen’s back is soothing even if Jared means it to be inflaming.  The warmth of it loosens some of the tense muscles that he had developed during his in-law’s stay.  
  
“Do you think that you would prefer green as well?” Jared asks after a few minutes of watching Jensen work.  
  
“For what?” Jensen absentmindedly replies as he tries to blend in another color over a spot where the grain of the hide had pulled in the wrong shade.  
  
“Scales of course,” Jared says.  
  
That is one question that Jensen knows the right answer for without having to think about it. “Of course not, Jared. Your scales are perfectly beautiful as they are. I wouldn’t change one of them.” Jensen’s tone is reassuring rather than enthusiastic as he speaks, but Jared normally doesn’t care. He is very self-confident about his own beauty and only asks about it when he feels he has gone too long without receiving a compliment.  
  
It is surprising then when Jared chuckles instead of preens, “No, silly rider, for the baby.”  
  
Jensen’s paintbrush freezes in mid-stroke. “The what?”  
  
“Our dragonling,” Jared buzzes on happily. “I think we should try for green, don’t you? It’s a very complimentary tone to my own scales, so there is a good chance that if we found a green or even yellow mother that…”  
  
“Let go of me right now,” Jensen snarls, his spine stiffening as all of his muscles tighten right back up again.  
  
Jared, being the dimwitted dragon that he is, doesn’t heed Jensen’s words. He actually pulls Jensen closer. “What’s wrong?” he asks.  
  
“I said LET GO!” Jensen yells as he shoves his work stool backwards, twisting out of the grasp of Jared’s arms.  
  
“Jensen?”  
  
“I can’t even… No. No, Jared. Just. No!” Jensen tells him sternly.  
  
The look on Jared’s face is one of hurt and confusion. “I do not understand,” he says slowly.  
  
“No, you wouldn’t, would you?” Jensen’s scoffs. He isn’t hurt; he _isn’t._ Tears are not coming to his eyes because he is a grown man, and grown men don’t cry.  
  
“You are upset,” Jared says. “Why?”  
  
“Why?” Jensen chokes out. “ _Why?_ ” Forming words beyond that seems impossible. How can Jared call Jensen his most beloved then turn around and suggest fornicating with another dragon? Has Jared truly not paid attention to anything that Jensen has tried to teach him? Has he only been playing some twisted game of pacification to make Jensen dote upon him like some fool?  
  
“Is it the color? Because we can try for a different coloring if you want, but green is prettiest.”  
  
“I don’t want a dragonling at all!” Jensen yells. “I don’t understand how you could think that I would want you to do this!”  
  
The gaze that Jensen has leveled upon him in response feels threatening. Even though he knows that Jared isn’t about to shift and chomp him in half, there is nothing human in those shifting eyes. The look is assessing, scrutinizing. It makes Jensen remember exactly what he’s been living with for so many months, and it spooks a part of him that he had thought long gone. His inner being quakes in a way that it hasn’t since Jared had first taken him.  
  
Rational thoughts leave Jensen’s mind. For a moment he actually fears his dragon, and it makes something sick turn inside of him. Nervously, he twists the ring that Jared had given him around on his finger. Jared’s insistence about them being married is romantic and sweet, and Jensen reminds himself that Jared isn’t about to go off the deep end just because they are fighting.  
  
“I’m going to go take a lap around my mountain,” Jared says stiffly as he walks out of the room.  
  
Jensen’s shaky exhale of breath once his dragon is gone is a combination or nerves and relief. The guilt that follows soon after doesn’t make him feel any better than his initial rage had. He can’t believe that Jared would suggest that he be allowed to fornicate with another dragon. They have their differences, but Jensen would never have imagined that Jared would even think that Jensen would consider allowing him to commit such an act.  
  
Baby dragons come from somewhere. Jensen isn’t stupid about that fact. He cannot say that he had ever given the topic much detailed thought, but Jared hadn’t been a virgin when he’d met Jensen. Surely other dragons would breed and have offspring before finding their riders. Or maybe Jared’s suggestion is the norm. That thought is even more disturbing. It isn’t how Jensen was raised. It isn’t how any of his acquaintances had been raised. Regardless of what is common in dragon culture, Jensen has a hard time wrapping his mind around the concept that his fellow humans would agree to allow their dragons to commit adultery.  
  
Or maybe other riders are just so besotted with their dragons that they allow such an act to be committed against their bond. Jensen’s relationship with Jared is unusual. Maybe mesmerized riders are more apt to follow after their dragon’s ways and leave their own culture behind them.  
  
It isn’t something that Jensen honestly wants to ponder. What other riders do with their dragons is their own business, and he doesn’t have room to judge. Hadn’t he just been thinking about his old friends and what they would think about his relationship with Jared? He won’t put blame or cast aspersions on other riders. He will only focus on what he will and will not do with Jared. His dragon is enough of a handful without dragging an entire species into it.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The atmosphere in the lair is awkward for days following their spat. At first, Jensen doesn’t want to see Jared, and the dragon seems to feel the same way. For almost twenty-four hours, Jensen doesn’t set eyes on scaly hide or glossy hair of his dragon. But that changes soon enough. After staying away for the span of a day, Jared shows back up and proceeds to follow Jensen _everywhere_.  
  
They don’t speak to each other. No, that would be too much like being functional for Jared’s stupid, infuriating dragon ways. Instead he lurks after Jensen like a behemoth of a dog. Trailing around, moping and being very, very quiet - Jared becomes a dragon shaped specter.  
  
At night, Jared curls his natural form around their bed in a parody of how he used to guard Jensen when he had first taken him captive. During the day, the sound of Jared’s breathing becomes a constant background noise to Jensen’s work. It is annoying, and Jensen comes close to yelling at Jared many times, but he is as stubborn as his dragon. Opening his mouth to yell will mean breaking their mutual war of silence.  
  
Fighting dirty is something that Jensen refuses to stoop to doing, but Jared has no such compunction. After three days, his breathing starts to get a distinct whine to it. He is exhaling overly hard through his snout, making his nostrils emit a faint, sharp noise like the sound of teakettle starting to boil. He knows that Jensen hates the sound, and it irritates Jensen that his dragon is trying to trick him into speaking first.  
  
It is a close thing, but Jensen holds on to his principles. His leatherworking suffers for it because he too often takes his frustration out on the unsuspecting hides, but it makes him feel better. The saddles and satchels and gourds aren’t necessary to maintain his non-existent income, so their creation is more of a symbol of Jensen’s worth. He isn’t just Jared’s pretty thing. That is important to him even if his stubborn dragon cannot see why.  
  
Five days after their fight, Jared starts bringing things into Jensen’s workroom. At first, Jensen’s first instinct is to yell at him. They agreed long ago that the room would be his, and that Jared was only allowed visitation rights. But yelling will make Jensen be the one to break the silence, and he refuses to do that.  
  
And, much as he doesn’t want to admit it to Jared, his curiosity does get captured after a while. Jared isn’t bringing in his typical array of snacks, nor is he bringing along the pretty baubles that he likes to sort through. He isn’t even bringing in his latest ‘rescue’ of a basket full of kittens that he just hadn’t the heart to ‘leave with those carless, stupid humans.’  
  
Instead Jared is softly crooning to soft, cuddly squares of fabric and fluffy, silk covered pillows. He goes through a ritual of rubbing the items against his snout, his forepaws wrapped oh so gently around them, and gently puts them away in one of the finished satchels that Jensen has hanging on his wall.  
  
After Jared packs away what seems like yards of textiles and mountains of pillows, he starts coming in with jars of all sorts of herbs. They’re perfectly preserved, and not for cooking. When Jared unstops the lids, the calming, soothing scent of them wafts throughout the whole room, tickling pleasantly at Jensen’s nose. It is different from Jared’s normal favoring of spicy potpourri and seductive candles. The odor of it is gentle and warm. Jared wraps each jar in a wrapping of leather before packing it away in a crate.  
  
It isn’t until Jared starts bringing in the previously expected bundles of treasure that Jensen gets what is going on. None of the objects are breakable nor do they have sharp edges. They range from soft, golden patinas to shiny, reflective gems to overly pretty dollies that any girl back in Jensen’s home village would be thrilled to own. Still, it isn’t until he sees Jared pack a rattle away into a crate that Jensen realizes what his dragon has been doing.  
  
“Is this a guilt trip?” Jensen blurts out incredulously. Damn the consequences of being the one to start arguing again.  
  
Jared glances sad dragon eyes at him but keeps up his ritual of snout rubbing and packing. For his part, Jensen cannot believe that he missed Jared accumulating all of these baby dragon things right under his nose. It is obvious that Jared has been planning this for a very long time, much longer than Jensen has known of it. For all he can tell, Jared could already have a female dragon picked out to bear his eggs for him.  
  
An idea takes hold of his brain - a terrible, horrible and far too plausible idea. “This is why your parents visited, isn’t it? To make sure that I was ‘safe’ enough for your reptilian spawn.” The words are harsh, far harsher than Jensen intends for them to be, but he can’t help being hurt by how much Jared has been hiding from him.  
  
Their relationship hasn’t always been the best. There have been mistakes and misunderstandings on both of their parts, but Jensen thinks there are some things that are just not acceptable no matter what sort of cultural misunderstanding is going on.  
  
“ _Jensen_ ,” the sheer amount of hurt in Jared’s tone is almost unbearable as it rattles around inside Jensen’s head. He can feel Jared’s pain, but it is eclipsed by his own.  
  
“I can’t believe that you… I’m so stupid,” Jensen mutters as he stands up stiffly. He feels a hundred years old as he begins to move towards the door.  
  
Jared blocks his way. In his human form, Jensen might be able to muscle past him. Jared is still stronger, but he is far more compact when he is human. In his dragon form, Jared is like a living boulder.  
  
“Let me past,” Jensen orders. He isn’t going to cry, not where Jared can see.  
  
 _“No,”_ comes the answer into Jensen’s skull. It is mulish and stubborn.  
  
“If you don’t let me past, I’ll strike you,” Jensen threatens through his tears.  
  
Jared’s wings flair out at his sides, and he pulls himself up onto his back haunches. The arch of his long neck butts up against the stone dome of the ceiling, but the maneuver gets his head out of immediate slapping distance. If Jensen wants to start something physical, he is going to have to jump for it now.  
  
“ _I’m not letting you leave me_ ,” Jared says stubbornly.  
  
Leaving hasn’t crossed Jensen’s mind in ages. When he made his choice, he considered it done. But Jared getting high minded and dictating to him doesn’t set well at the moment.  
  
“Yeah? Well what if I want to go see my parents?” The challenge in Jensen’s words is more bravado than anything else. He would like to go see his parents, but at the same time he isn’t sure that he wants to deal with his mother’s knowing looks or his father’s inquiries about Jensen settling down.  
  
“ _You want to go back to the village?”_ Jared sounds for all the world like he hadn’t even thought that it might be a possibility. Of course, Jensen isn’t about to soothe his stupid dragon worries about it. There is no need to prove Jared’s ego right.  
  
“I want to now,” Jensen says. Not wanting to talk to Jared and lying to him are two different things. Jensen thinks that he is owed an omission or two given that Jared has been plotting behind his back to go fornicate with another dragon.  
  
“ _No!”_ Jared declares.  
  
That sets Jensen off more than anything. “You just had your parents visit, and I don’t even get to see mine?”  
  
“ _They’ll brainwash you! Those base, dirty humans…”_  
  
“Those are my friends and parents you’re talking about there.”  
  
 _“… and their wicked, rider stealing ways!”_ Jared continues as if Jensen said nothing at all. For all Jensen knows, Jared didn’t hear him. It isn’t like his dragon has shown a knack for communication with him as of late.  
  
“Oh, you are a fine one to make those accusations,” Jensen huffs, “when you and your scaly hided, _ugly_ and _plain_ dragons friends have been conspiring to bring **_uglier_ ** and **_plainer_** dragons into the world behind your riders’ backs!” Jensen shouts. Never let it be said that Jensen Ackles always keeps his head about him. There is a reason that he ended up on the damned mountainside attracting a dragon to him in the first place.  
  
The way that Jared’s chest puffs up at Jensen’s words would be comical if not for the fact that it means Jared’s fire just got riled up. He is a breath away from torching Jensen’s entire work room. The thought should scare him, would scare a normal man. But all Jensen can feel is satisfaction at the sight. He has managed to irk his dragon, maybe even hurt his feelings. Caught up in the moment as he is, the vengeance feels good.  
  
 _“Fine. We’ll go see your parents and their stupid home and your stupid friends who will try to get you to ride them,”_ Jared snarls into Jensen’s head after a good two minutes of silence.  
  
Jensen still loves Jared, so he doesn’t comment on the fact that he didn’t exactly invite Jared along. He doesn’t remark on Jared’s outright hypocrisy about sex because it will just make Jensen more upset. If Jared wants to work himself up into a tizzy over some people that he suspects might lust after Jensen’s body, he can go right on ahead with that. Jensen isn’t going to stop him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
There are many things that Jensen has missed about his parent’s home. His mother’s cooking, while not at the very top of the list, is high. His mother’s ability to take one look at him and know something is wrong is very low.  
  
Within seconds of his surprise arrival, Jensen is sitting in his old spot in her kitchen, sipping on tea. His mother is staring at him with too shrewd of eyes. His father is still in his shop and doesn’t know that Jensen is visiting. Jared is still outside fussing with the horses and making sure that his treasures are secure.  
  
The dragon had spent hours carefully selecting fake wares to be placed in his fake peddler’s wagon. They hadn’t spoken about it as they weren’t speaking to each other, but Jensen knows his dragon well enough to know that Jared was selecting items that he could bear to lose but still show off with pride. Why Jared continues to care about the opinions of people who he regularly terrorizes, Jensen will never understand.  
  
“Jensen,” his mother says his name sadly, “what is wrong?”  
  
“Nothing,” is the automatic response that springs from Jensen’s lips.  
  
“Oh, well then,” she says, clearly not accepting his denial, “maybe I should ask Jared?”  
  
Jensen snorts into his cup of tea and shoots a glare out the window. He can’t see Jared from his vantage point, but he likes to think the thoughtless dragon can feel it anyway.  
  
“Men can be stupid,” his mother observes as she follows his gaze. “I can’t imagine two of them trying to make things work out.”  
  
“He’s a dragon, not a man,” Jensen says childishly.  
  
“Mmmm, and I imagine he isn’t going to be any better to deal with once your father gets home. He has been talking about you lately. You are his only son, and he wants you to settle down and give him grandbabies instead of traipsing all over creation. Figures you’ve had over a year now to sow your wild oats.”  
  
“Well, if there are children to be had, I certainly won’t be the one making them,” Jensen doesn’t bother holding back his vitriol. Jared’s scheming still burns. That wound is not close to being healed.  
  
His mother looks surprised at that and shoots a murderous glare of her own out the window. “I didn’t think that he would do such a thing.”  
  
“I know,” Jensen agrees. His mother’s protectiveness is nice to feel. Even if Jensen asked for the trip home out of pettiness, he is still glad he did it.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dinner is exceedingly awkward. Jensen’s father is delighted he is home and is thrilled to see Jared. Jensen forgets sometimes that his father likes his dragon. Jensen thinks that his father might have different feelings if he knew exactly what sorts of things Jared gets up to with his only son. If his father found out that Jared is the dragon, Jensen isn’t sure what sort of reaction his father would have. It is a safe bet that it wouldn’t be one of buying them pretty treasures to put on their mantle.  
  
After inquiries about how their sales have been and whatever happened to Jared’s other trading partner and an admonishment for Jensen to send letters more often, the whole table lapses into silence. Never before has eating supper seemed like such a chore. Then it gets worse.  
  
“So Jensen, you’re still keeping up with your leatherworking, right?” his father asks.  
  
“Yes,” Jensen answers. “I’ve been trying out some different dyes that I’ve gotten. They make some good hues farther north.”  
  
Omitting the fact that Jared flies all over creation to fetch him his supplies is a necessity, but Jensen can see the little scowl form on his face anyway. Dragons like to be praised for everything they do. They don’t think of it as vanity or rudeness. Jared still has a hard time understanding why Jensen doesn’t like to be praised after a bout of enthusiastic ‘riding.’  
  
“Good! Good,” the smile on his father’s face is wide and happy. “In a few years I’d like to hand the business over to you. Not right away, of course. You’ll want to settle down and have little ones first.”  
  
“Jensen doesn’t want little ones,” Jared snaps irritably before Jensen can even open his mouth.  
  
“I’m sure that it’s just that he hasn’t met the right girl yet,” Jensen’s father laughs uneasily.  
  
“No,” Jared disagrees, “he was very adamant about it. To the point of rudeness,” Jared adds to a glare in Jensen’s direction.  
  
“That’s a completely different situation, Jared,” Jensen says tightly.  
  
“Oh? So if you ‘found the right girl’ you’d be fine with having little ones? It’s just the situation?” Jared asks before either of Jensen’s parents can say a word.  
  
“Of course not!” Jensen protests. “I’m just saying that you can’t take that situation and say things to my father when…”  
  
“I hope that they’re ugly and plain and, and, and plain!” Jared shouts as he pushes away from the table and stalks away.  
  
Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe the way that Jensen feels as he pokes at what is left of his dinner. He can feel his father’s gaze resting on him, but he can’t think of a single thing to say. Fortunately his mother is far more adept at words than he is.  
  
“There was a youngster at one of the villages. Jared got attached, but it was a bad situation with the mother. The father was a drunk, and she was whoring herself. They kept asking for more money for the baby, and it became clear that they weren’t going to let Jared take him no matter how much he offered. It’s just very sad, Dear,” she says to her husband.  
  
She couldn’t lie more if she was the rug by the front door. It makes Jensen feel dirty on her behalf, but there isn’t much he can do about it.  
  
“Jared’s still upset about it,” Jensen adds on roughly. It isn’t fair to let his mother sully herself without him shouldering some of the lie.  
  
“I can see that,” his father says. “But someday, Jensen, you’ll understand him.”  
  
Somehow, Jensen isn’t so sure of that.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The bed dipping down is the last thing that Jensen expected to feel in the middle of the night. Jared hasn’t been joining him for weeks, and their bed in the lair is actually large enough to hold both of them as opposed to the small one of his youth. There is a pile of blankets in the corner of Jensen’s room that he’d left for Jared to sleep upon when the dragon came back from the evening flight that he’d decided to surprise the villagers with.  
  
If he had any fight left in him, Jensen might push Jared away and tell him to sleep on the floor. As it is, he’s tired and drained. Starting another quarrel over sleeping arrangements isn’t going to help anything. The warmth from Jared’s body is nice even though there isn’t enough room in the bed for the two of them.  
  
“You don’t want to leave me for some human woman with birthing hips,” Jared’s whisper is terribly uncertain.  
  
“You would want to talk about this now,” Jensen mutters.  
  
“I’m prettier than they are,” Jared mumbles in Jensen’s neck forlornly.  
  
“Jared, I’m not the one who wants to have relations with a woman to get her pregnant,” Jensen reminds him.  
  
“I would never!” Jared sputters indignantly.  
  
“I seem to recall you wanting exactly that, moping about it even,” Jensen says.  
  
“No,” Jared denies.  
  
The refutation is so shocking that Jensen almost doesn’t get angry. But almost isn’t good enough, and hot rage builds up inside of him. He wishes that he could turn around and give Jared the tongue lashing he deserves, but he’s trapped by a small bed and a pair of dragon arms that have somehow wound themselves around him.  
  
“You wanted dragonlings,” Jensen spits. “You wanted me to help you choose a female for you to fornicate with, and then you wanted me to take care of the child of your infidelity and love it.”  
  
The arms around Jensen tighten as Jared buries his face farther into the crook of Jensen’s shoulder and presses a kiss on the side of his neck. “Is that what you thought?”  
  
Dearly wishing he could rail and scream, Jensen settles for harshly croaking out, “That’s what you told me! What else was I supposed to think?”  
  
“Dragons do not… we do not ride together, Jensen. I thought you knew this,” the words have a distinctly soothing tone to them like Jared is trying to apologize.  
  
“Well humans don’t see much difference between riding and rutting,” Jensen informs him. He can hear Jared take a few steadying breaths as well as feel the expansion of his chest against his back.  
  
“You are upset with me, so I’m going to ignore you trying to make our marriage something dirty and animalistic,” Jared says stiffly. “But dragons do not _rut_ together either. It is not done. To have a dragon on top of another, to be ridden by another is unthinkable, unnatural.”  
  
“Well dragons keep coming from somewhere,” Jensen points out.  
  
“They do,” Jared agrees, “but… that is what the spawning pools are for. A female dragon and her rider coax out the eggs out and into the pools. Then the male dragon’s rider helps him spend into the waters. After many days the shells harden, and we take our eggs home to nest them.”  
  
“And the other dragon is just fine with you taking off with their egg?” Jensen asks.  
  
“No. It is best hoped for that she bears two eggs. One or three brings trouble. Fights are waged over who gets to take the odd egg. We are jealous for our children as we are our other treasures.”  
  
“So the male dragon takes one and the female dragon takes one. Which means that your sister was taken by the male dragon that fathered you?”  
  
“My dragon-father and second father-rider, yes,” Jared says sadly.  
  
“You never mention them.”  
  
“Because they are dead. My father was skewered on the end of some human’s lance and his head mounted on a wall. My second father-rider was tortured to death by men trying to burn my dragon-father’s ‘magic’ out of him.”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Jensen tells him.  
  
Jared kisses his neck again. “They had only just come to see my lair the week before. My father-dragon brought me a vase that my second father-rider made for their mantle place.  I could hear my father-rider’s screams in my head, but I didn’t get there in time. Mother maimed the knight that killed him at least. He’ll not be slaying any more dragons without his left leg to aid him.”  
  
“I didn’t know,” Jensen offers, uncertain of what else to say.  
  
Jared shrugs. “I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to scare you away at first. Then things started going so well between us, I didn’t want to spoil it with worry.”  
  
“Jared…”  
  
“Don’t be angry with me. Please. I was only trying to do what was best and make you the happiest with me that you could be.” The beseeching voice is too much for Jensen to ignore, so he has to push and poke and twist until he is facing Jared.  
  
“You do not have to hide things from me to make me happy. In point of fact, not telling these things to me has made me desperately unhappy. Do you know how it felt to think that you wished to sleep with another?”  
  
“Jensen,” Jared whispers. The sadness in that one word makes Jensen’s eyes ache. He doesn’t want to cry, so he pulls Jared closer and holds him. They have much to speak about, but not when they’re as tired and worn thin as they are. There will be plenty of time for talking once they go back to the lair. Now is the time for sleep.

  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The subject of baby dragons is dropped. After Jensen makes Jared carefully explain things to Jensen’s mother to keep her from cutting off Jared’s penis with her butcher knife, they stay around the village for a while. Jared makes a few reluctant trades to make things seem on the up and up, and Jensen finds their stores four barrels of rum, two casks of wine and a jar of honey richer when they begin their journey back home.  
  
He doesn’t find the new blanket until they’ve been home for two weeks. It is coincidence that he stumbles across it at all. Jensen doesn’t normally go into Jared’s linen closets. What he needs is kept in the bureaus in the bedroom, and his dragon is meticulous about how his other cloth goods are folded and stored. There is practically a ritual to it.  
  
But Jensen had seen a mouse scurry under the door to the closet, and he had known that Jared would be upset if his nice cloth goods became damaged. So he had fetches one of the cats and opens up the closet to start rifling through the textiles inside, hoping to scare the rodent out. It is then that he notices the soft blanket tucked between two larger ones. It is a light purple color with colorful embroidery on it that Jensen would recognize anywhere.  
  
The cobbler’s wife does excellent needlework. While her prices are higher than many others, she is the one that a person goes to when they want the best. The purple dye has soaked into the softness of the fibers perfectly. If Jensen isn’t mistaken, the multi-colored thread making up the stitching on the blanket is made out of silk. Those stitches create a lovely child’s pattern on the blanket. Fluffy lambs are frolicking all over it.  
  
Jared could have purchased the blanket because he thought it to be pretty, but Jensen knows better than to believe that thought. The blanket is for a little dragonling.  
  
Truth be told, Jensen still is not certain how he feels about the idea. He isn’t hurt by it any longer, and he isn’t opposed to the concept of a child. While he was barely into his adulthood when Jared had first taken him, Jensen had already made plans about how his life would turn out. Even with the adjustments that Jensen’s unique situation had brought upon them, most of Jensen’s original ideals remain intact.  
  
Despite Jared’s decided lack of feminine curves, Jensen is married. He has a home of his own, and practices leatherworking like his father before him. He has horses and sheep and cats. Despite wealth being a very abstract and unattainable goal, Jensen can admit that he has more than enough gold and riches. He never imagined himself to marry into affluence, but there is no doubt that he has.  
  
Aside from a lack of children, Jensen has fulfilled his general goals in life. He might even dare to say that he has superseded them even if he doesn’t have anybody aside from Jared that he can brag about that with. Not that Jared would be opposed to hearing all about how well kept and doted on Jensen is. Jared would be more than happy to hear sonnets written about it.  
  
The point being that if Jensen thinks about his situation, he isn’t quite opposed to the idea of having a little one underfoot. The concept of how dragons achieve this goal is a bit confusing to him, but Jensen has learned to adapt to the dragon way if it makes more sense. He has his hesitations about it, but those need to be discussed in a calm, rational manner.  
  
Showing up to dinner with the blanket will likely not lead to calm discussion, so he tucks it back into the closet after Jared’s favorite bedraggled tabby cat comes out victorious, fat mouse body hanging from its mouth. Jared isn’t going to be pleased that the mice are that healthy.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
“Filthy vermin,” Jared fumes as he stabs at the roast that Jensen prepared, “scurrying around in my treasures! Leaving filthy mouse droppings and chewed on woolens in their wake!”  
  
“They’re only mice, Jared,” Jensen reminds him. “I’m sure they’re not plotting against your treasure specifically.”  
  
“They’re evil!” Jared contends, eyes blazing. “They have no care for precious things. Why I heard once that they gnawed on a rider in his sleep!”  
  
“Old wives tales,” Jensen dismisses.  
  
Jared huffs and takes another bite of roast, closing his eyes and moaning obscenely. “You spoil me as only a rider could,” he says after a moment.  
  
“You just want in my trousers,” Jensen dismisses easily.  
  
“I do,” Jared agrees. “I very much want in your trousers to plunder at the treasure that I…”  
  
“As much as I know you love your filthy talk, I was hoping to speak with you about something first,” Jensen interrupts before Jared can start in on his ode to Jensen’s private regions.  
  
“ _You_ love my filthy talk,” Jared corrects him imperiously. “You love my silver tongue and the compliments it pays your tiny, dragon welcoming hole.”  
  
Jensen feels his face flush and shakes his head slowly. “Jared, can we please have a decent conversation first?”  
  
“Whatever my rider wishes,” Jared says magnanimously.  
  
Jensen nods and clears his throat. He still hasn’t come up with the way that he wants to broach the subject. He had been hoping that inspiration would just strike when the moment came. Jared notices his distress, and his large brow furrows.  
  
“There is something bothering you?” he sounds nervous as he asks.  
  
“Not exactly, no,” Jensen tells him.  
  
“If it is about our riding…”  
  
“Not that,” Jensen assures him. “Just, I’ve been thinking about the whole… baby thing.”  
  
Jared freezes for a moment; then places a false smile on his face. “What about it?”  
  
“You’re certain you want that? Children are a lot of work, Jared. And they break things.”  
  
“I’m not stupid,” Jared grumbles. “And dragonlings don’t ‘break’ things. Not unless they’re not feeling well and aren’t in control of their tails. Little ones can’t always be perfect after all.”  
  
“Hey,” Jensen soothes, “I know this is a sore subject between us, but I’m honestly trying to just talk.”  
  
Jared peers at him suspiciously. “You are thinking of it?” he asks.  
  
“I… suppose that I am, yes,” Jensen admits.  
  
Jared’s answering grin is unbearably bright.  
  
“I didn’t say ‘yes’ yet,” Jensen reminds him.  
  
“You didn’t say ‘yes’ about riding me either, and we both know how much you wanted it. Still want it today,” Jared says.  
  
Jensen reigns in his exasperation to just a shake of his head. “I have some questions about this. I’m not certain how I feel about you giving your other child away. I understand that it would be difficult to find a… donor for the eggs, but that is your child.”  
  
“Our child,” Jared corrects him gently, “but it is not as it would be with human children. The dragonlings are bonded to each other. When they hatch, they each bond with their parent dragon and parent rider. When this is completed, they share the information with their twin. This then bonds them to both sets of parents.”  
  
“So they’re in your head?” Jensen tries to keep the fear out of his voice. He doesn’t need a couple of infants inside his skull. Worse, he doesn’t need them inside _Jared’s_ head. He knows how much time Jared spends thinking about sexual intercourse.  
  
“They are bonded to us, but they aren’t mind readers. I used to ask my father-dragon to sing me to sleep at night. He had a lovely voice,” Jared softens as he reminisces. “I was a very needy dragonling, but I couldn’t ever impose my will on any of my parents or see inside their minds. I cannot even see inside your mind, though it would be helpful when you’re being stubborn.”  
  
“You don’t wish to bed me now? Is that what you’re saying?” Jensen challenges, arching a single eyebrow in Jared’s direction.  
  
“Of course, there are good reasons to be stubborn. Fine, amiable reasons that only the wisdom of a rider can understand,” Jared’s tongue stumbles over the words in his hurry to spew them out of his mouth.  
  
“I thought as much.”  
  
Jared gives a smile and tucks into his roast for a few more bites before pausing. “You would make a very fine father-rider, Jensen. Our dragonlings would be very attached to you. The little one that does not come with us will beg for songs, I know it.”  
  
The compliment is sincere, and Jensen takes it as such. But the thought of having a child so distant isn’t an easy one. “How do you agree on how to raise the dragonlings? It is not as if we would always agree with the others. What if we feel that they are hurting or neglecting the other dragonling?”  
  
 “We do not always agree,” Jared acknowledges, “but that is part of the reason that we have our children this way. Sometimes there are riders who are duplicitous with their dragons. You know that some dragons have been slain by their own riders, but there are worse things that have happened.”  
  
“Not all villagers are as unknowing of the ways of dragons as the people here. They know of our bond with our riders, and they will send hunters to us, hoping that we bond with one of them. These riders will lay with their dragons, bed them and tell us how pretty we are. And when it comes time for us to have our children, they will go to the spawning pools, and they will damage the waters so that the eggs never harden. Or they will smash the dragonlings in their shells, destroying not one dragon but an entire generation.”  
  
“That’s horrible,” Jensen whispers.  
  
Jared nods. “It is why we seek the blessing of our parents before attempting to have hatchlings. A dragon can be blind to the faults of his rider, but the loss of a dragon is unavoidable in some instances. We cannot unbind ourselves from our riders. Allowing a rider to destroy one of the spawning pools is something that is avoidable if proper care is taken.”  
  
“But I don’t understand why that leads to splitting up the eggs as you do,” Jensen says.  
  
Jared shrugs. “There are some riders who do not take care of their dragons or hatchlings as they should. Some riders are angry that they are bound to their dragon. Some dragons care only for their lucre and do not see the treasure that their hatchlings are. Some dragons cannot see the evilness of their riders, or cannot bring themselves to choose between their offspring and their rider. It is the responsibility of the other dragon to interfere.”  
  
The carrots on Jared’s place seem to catch his attention for a moment before he continues. “In some cases, the separation is the only way to ensure that at least one of the dragonlings survives. There is great danger to our kind in knights and hunters. Spreading the dragonlings out amongst many lairs increases their chance of survival. Hunters kill dragons and sometimes the rider, sometimes not. Their dragonlings are most often stuffed like a lifeless pet, prized for their pretty baby scales. Worse, they are treated like pets. Taught to be nothing more than an animal and treated as perverse when they come of age and try to gain a rider.”  
  
“What if that happened to your child?” Jensen asks.  
  
“I would go and fetch our other dragonling. Bring him or her home to be coddled and soothed by his or her father-rider and taught the ways of true human affection,” Jared states decisively. “It would be my duty as the other parent-dragon to fly in and rescue if at all possible. There is strength in an alliance. Were our lair attacked, it would be expected for the other dragon to come to our defense.”  
  
“But it might be too late by then,” Jensen points out. He doesn’t need to reference what little Jared has told him about his other parents.  
  
“It might be,” Jared agrees, “but it might also be that I could save one or all of them. Dragons can entrench in their lairs for days if need be. Even if not, I might be able to salvage a reminder or two for when our surviving dragonling grows older and wishes to know about the parents and sibling who are no more.”  
  
The idea strikes Jensen as rather sad. Not so much the practicality of it, but that Jared has clearly thought the concept through to the point that it is merely a fact. This is a function of the life cycle for him.  
  
“What about us?” Jensen asks. “Would we be in more danger?” It is maybe a selfish question to ask, but there is no egg or baby dragon to protect yet. Better he know now the dangers than find out something unpleasant later.  
  
“No, not us,” Jared says, “at least not at first. It is very unlikely that the townsfolk would learn of the little one’s existence until he or she began to fly. I’ll not lie to you and say that might not bring more knights to our lair. Young dragons are seen as easy prey.”  
  
Jensen pokes at the remaining food on his plate as he thinks about Jared’s words. The soldiers and hunters and knights that come to kill Jared have never gotten far. They haven’t taken a single bit of treasure from Jared’s wicked talons nor have they truly harmed him. But those men scare Jensen at a fundamental level. The next one might always be the one who bests Jared. There is no way to control that. Jensen can accept that risk for himself. Jared was born with the risk, so he has no choice. But Jensen has a say on whether or not he makes a child face that scenario.  
  
Across the table, Jared takes a deep breath and exhales, stirring the bouquet of flowers he had brought home to ‘pretty up’ the dinner table. “When your mother had you,” Jared says carefully, “she had no guarantee that you would be safe. It is the risk that all parents take, human or dragon.”  
  
“I think that it nearly killed both my parents when you stole me,” Jensen reminds him.  
  
“And yet they not once lamented having you,” Jared replies. “Those people in the village have no assurance that I will not someday burn down their homes. But they persist on marrying and having babies. They propagate their kind and are encouraged to do so. I only wish to have the same right.”  
  
There isn’t much that Jensen can say to that. All creatures feel the need to reproduce, and he can’t deny Jared that need. The only thing he can deny him is actually having the child. That much power, Jared has given him. Not without a pout and an argument, but Jensen has it nonetheless.  
  
He says nothing for a while, picking at the remains of his dinner. Jared mirrors his actions although most of his food actually disappears inside his mouth instead of getting pushed around his plate.  
  
“I’ll think about it,” Jensen promises when he finally rises to clear the table.  
  
“You will agree to it,” Jared says with his normal confidence. “I can already see it in your eyes. No rider so fine has ever turned down the chance to dote upon dragonlings of his own.”  
  
“Sweet talker,” Jensen accuses him.  
  
“Forever,” Jared promises.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A few more months pass before Jensen makes up his mind. A good many of his choices when it comes to Jared have been made at a moment’s notice. This decision is one that he can take his time on, and he does. There are always sacrifices when it comes to becoming a parent, and Jensen wants to think through the ramifications.  
  
He can’t say that Jared is especially patient with him, but he can’t blame his dragon for that.  In Jared’s mind there is no difference between them having a dragonling and human couples having a baby. They have been married for a while and have the means to provide for a child. It is the natural progression of their life to raise little ones.  
  
Jensen is possibly cursed with an overactive imagination because he can just imagine all of the ways that having a baby dragon in the lair could go wrong. Everything becomes a potential hazard or risk. For weeks every wind seems to carry the whispers of a dragon slayer on it, looking for baby scales. His nightmares are plagued with the death of a child that hasn’t even been conceived yet.  
  
But one morning he wakes up early and goes down the mountain to the cave where he first met Jared. The weather is similar to that first day, and Jensen is overcome with a sense of nostalgia. It isn’t that he is overly fond of the memory. Jared scared him, mesmerized him and abducted him. That isn’t the sort of thing that a man can paint in a glowing light.  
  
Jensen didn’t fall in love with Jared that day nor any of the days that followed after. Jared was frightening and strong, a force not to be crossed. The intervening time has taken the fear away from Jensen, but that doesn’t make it unjustified. Jared is powerful, fast and devious. Nothing inspires him to use those traits more than keeping his ‘treasure’ protected.  
  
The realization strikes Jensen that he has been putting his faith in the evilness of men. While his concerns are justified, they are also not more important than living his life. He loves Jared, and he always did want to be a father.  While it is true that he never imagined that his child would have scales, he also knows that no man can predict what his offspring will be like.  
  
On the hike back to the lair, Jensen is filled with nervous energy. He knows that Jared will be happy with his decision, but it seems like the sort of announcement that should have a special recognition attached to it.  
  
In retrospect, dressing up in one of Jared’s favorite outfits was a poor choice. Not that Jensen minds being ravished, but it is hard to have a conversation with a dragon who is busy cooing over how pretty his rider looks. Doubly hard is trying to talk when said dragon’s fingers are pushing inside of his rider so that coupling can take place.  
  
“Jared,” Jensen pants, trying to ignore just how hard he is, “I, uhn, I…”  
  
“You are beautiful and so very, very precious,” Jared finishes for him.  
  
“We should,” Jensen tries again just as Jared gets a third finger in, “oh.”  
  
“Less talking, more moaning,” Jared pants as he thrusts his fingers in and out of Jensen. His movements are jerky and impatient. His cock his unmercifully hard where it is pressing against Jensen’s flesh. Hunger is consuming his eyes, and his unnaturally warm body seems even hotter on the insides of Jensen’s thighs as he straddles his dragon.  
  
Giving up on talking, Jensen leans down to steal a kiss. Jared calls it giving because he believes that he is too smart a dragon to have anything stolen from him. It isn’t just semantics, but Jensen lets Jared have his little illusions about his perfection.  
  
“Yes,” Jared hisses when their kiss breaks, “you want to ride your dragon, hmm? Take him inside of you and become one with him because you love him so much.”  
  
“Jared,” Jensen can only gasp his name as Jared guides his cock to Jensen’s entrance and bumps the head of it suggestively against the rim still being held taut by his fingers. It’s a move that Jared has perfected over the time that they’ve been coupling together. It keeps Jensen’s brain from coming too far online and allows Jared the latitude to say whatever egotistical, vain or dirty thought happens to pop into his skull.  
  
Still, he never pushes inside Jensen without some sort of initiating touch from Jensen first. Jared is always insistent that he be ridden. Any position or act that would remotely resemble him ‘riding’ Jensen will have him soft within seconds - soft and whimpering like a kicked puppy because it is ‘wrong’ and ‘bad’ for a dragon to do that. As opposed, of course, to mesmerizing one’s rider into doing the riding, but Jensen knows that Jared isn’t fond of that practice even if he won’t condemn it.  
  
 “Come on then,” Jensen says as he tugs at Jared’s wrist to pull the dragon’s fingers free, “I want you inside.”  
  
Lust flares even brighter in Jared’s eyes at the words, and Jensen has to look away. Part of him still shies away from the outright brazenness of what they do together. He knows that sex is normal, should be craved. But Jensen isn’t completely okay with the way that Jared’s eyes worship his body when they are being intimate.  
  
If he let Jared have his way, there would always be candles or lanterns lit when Jensen was naked. He would perhaps be adorned with ‘enhancing’ jewels or bobbles for his ‘exquisite’ nude form, but Jared would make certain that Jensen’s nakedness and arousal were finely displayed for his jealous and hungering gaze.  
  
Such adoration is difficult for Jensen to accept. He knows that it is part of what being a dragon is. He also knows how unaccepted it is in human society for him to be doing that sort of thing. Whorish, it would be called in the taverns, and Jensen fights to reconcile those two worlds on a regular basis.  
  
But excited as he is at the moment, his embarrassment is easily pushed to the back of his mind. As much as he refuses to say it to Jared, his body does crave being filled by his dragon. The push and pull of his flesh as Jared moves inside of him makes Jensen ache for more.  
  
“Jared,” he whimpers as the broad head of his dragon’s cock breeches him.  
  
“More?” Jared asks breathlessly even though it is not truly a question. He is already tilting his hips up as Jensen sinks down on him. They both know Jensen wants more.  
  
There are more graceful sights to see than Jensen bouncing himself upon Jared’s lap. He is certain there are more erotic ones than his sometimes ungainly movements as he slides his hole up and down Jared’s cock, but Jared is ever complimentary about the ‘vision’ that Jensen displays for him.  
  
“So beautiful, gorgeous and perfect and mine,” Jared rumbles as he thrusts upwards. His body trembles between Jensen’s thighs, and it gives Jensen a rush of shameful power to feel it.  
  
Jared doesn’t hold back for anybody but him. The dragon is large, magnificent and powerful, and it is Jensen’s opinion and affection that holds sway over him. The knowledge makes Jensen feel special even though he tries to ignore it.  
  
“Tight and warm and welcoming,” Jared coos as Jensen picks up the pace. “My little rider, all mine.”  
  
“All yours,” Jensen confirms, desire banishing his verbal reticence for the moment. “All yours,” he repeats as he rocks on his dragon’s lap, enjoying the slick slide of Jared’s cock going in and out of his body.  
  
“Yes,” Jared agrees, smugness creeping into his expression, “you are.”  He sits up a little, easing his hand behind Jensen so that his fingertips can reach around to touch where they are joined together. They brush over the thin, slicked skin that has stretched to accommodate his girth, teasing the edge of Jensen’s hole.  
  
Jensen whimpers as he grabs hold of his own cock, stroking it as he rolls his hips harder, grinding down onto Jared’s cock. He is close, can feel it. He can also feel the heat of Jared’s stare where it rests on Jensen’s fist. Jared likes watching while Jensen touches himself. Jared likes watching Jensen period.  
  
“Yes, do it,” Jared encourages. “Pleasure yourself; let your dragon see how much your body craves him.”  
  
Jensen coughs as he comes. As much as Jared would love to hear it, Jensen can never get over the need to try to keep his voice down when they are being intimate with each other.  
  
Thankfully, Jared is more than happy with the picture that Jensen’s pleasure paints for him. His own seed is warm inside of Jensen, slicking his insides further while Jared thrusts up a few more times, jostling Jensen’s body like a limp doll.  
  
“We need to talk,” Jensen says to his dragon’s chest. He is much too exhausted to move his mouth. Jared’s enthusiasm for intimacy wears him out.  
  
“Now?” Jared is absolutely plaintive with his question.  
  
“Yes,” Jensen answers. “I’ve come to a decision…”  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are scrolls. Jensen did not expect there to be scrolls. He isn’t sure what he thought there would be, but scroll upon scroll upon scroll of eligible female dragons complete with notations on how well they keep their treasure was never one of his imaginations.

Jared has made notes all over said scrolls. Scale colors are noted along with size, flying speeds and general attractiveness in human form. Kind, genial notes such as, “RUSTY JUNK!” and, “LYING LIARS!” and, “GLASS VASES NOT ORIGINAL, BAD REPLICAS!” are scrawled across the treasure listings.

“So are there scrolls listing your attributes as a dragon donor as well?” Jensen asks as he furls one of the scrolls and reaches for the next.

“Yes,” Jared answers, but his eyes suddenly won’t meet Jensen’s.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Jensen instantly asks.

“Nothing!”

“Jared, tell me.”

“Well, I’m, that is… I’m quite renowned for my treasure,” Jared fiddles with the edge of one of the scrolls, tearing it apart between his fingers.

“Meaning what, exactly?”

“We’re in a very good bartering position. I am very attractive and have an excellent pedigree. My treasures are pristine. I have a good eye and nose for it. My dragonlings should be excellent.”

“You make yourself sound like an expensive racehorse,” Jensen says.

Jared scowls at him. “I knew you would think it strange.”

“Well, you are quite the, uh, stallion in bed,” Jensen can barely get the words out of his mouth without feeling like ten kinds of a fool.

Predictably, Jared beams at the words. “I am very talented in that area, but only because my rider inspires me so. He is most beautiful and comely. Strong of thighs and sweet of voice, he would make the most pious of virgins slip from their robes to have a chance between the sheets with him.”

“Jared,” Jensen hisses, a flush crawling up his neck to burn at his face.

“It is true. Your attractiveness is noted in the rider section of my scrolls.”

“There is a rider section?” Jensen asks, searching his current scroll for it.

“Yes,” Jared huffs, “but most riders are uncomfortable with ‘judging’ before they meet their fellow riders. They don’t think that dragons evaluate fairly or some such nonsense. So the rider addendums have to be requested. If you want to read them, I can gather some for you.”

“No, that’s fine,” Jensen says. He doesn’t need to be causing waves by being the odd rider who wants to the see the notes. Besides, he can just about imagine what those notes say. He doesn’t need to read about how pretty other people are or how great they are at ‘riding’ their dragons.

“The next gathering is about a fortnight from now,” Jared suggests hesitantly, “if you’d like to meet some of them.”

“There are dragon gatherings?”

“Yes,” Jared nods. “Though most times they are only attended by those looking to have dragonlings or those thinking about it. There hasn’t been a large scale dragon hunt in years. There aren’t many other reasons to leave one’s lair so unprotected.”

“So it is almost like those parties my mother used to send me to? Where all the eligible young men and women gathered together?” Jensen asks before he can stop himself.

Predictably, Jared’s eye glitter with possessiveness even as his mouth turns down into a pout. He hates hearing stories of how Jensen might’ve become another’s. Hates it to a level of dislike that isn’t logical, but Jensen has learned that logic isn’t exactly a close friend of the dragon race.

Jared doesn’t make a snippy comment about how stupid human bonding rituals are, though Jensen can see the desire to in his face. They’ve grown as a couple, and part of that growth is Jared accepting human social ‘quirks’ as much as Jensen has to accept dragon ones.

“So,” Jensen exhales with an attempt to obviously change the subject, “which ones do you like best?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The meeting place is crawling with dragons. They’re dizzying in their colors and sizes and shapes. It boggles Jensen’s mind just how many of them there are. Of course, that thought is quickly followed by how horrifying it would be if knights and hunters ever caught a whisper on the wind of these gathering places.

The flight out to the meeting spot had been just as terrifying as Jensen had thought it would be. Despite all of Jared’s promises to behave, he never quite could once he got into the skies. He was large, even for a dragon but also fast and shockingly agile. Once in the skies, he never could resist the urge to show off.

By the time they had finally landed, Jensen was caught between wanting to throw up and pass out. Unfortunately, he could do neither because Jared’s looping, swirling, plunging grand entrance had garnered them a crowd of envious admirers. So Jensen did his best to not look as pale and ill as he was currently feeling while Jared paraded them to the registration table.

The staring was unnerving, but it was nothing compared to attending the actual party. Every searching female and her rider seemed to want to talk to either Jared or Jensen. For once in their relationship, Jensen suspected that Jared had underplayed just how special a dragon that he was.

“Overwhelming, huh?” a female voice piped up from behind Jensen. He wasn’t ashamed to jump and spin around in shock. He’d been certain that the dark alcove wasn’t occupied.

But the woman is smiling at him without that constant look of speculation about her, so he relaxes a fraction as he answers, “Just a little.”

“Dragons are wonderful creatures, but they can be terrifying even when they aren’t breathing fire,” she observes with a tiny twist to her mouth.

“Jensen,” Jensen says as he stretches out his hand in greeting.

“Maria,” she says in return.

“Which one is yours?” Jensen asks as he gestures out at all of the preening dragons.

Maria looks a little surprised at the question. “Melonia?” she says very slowly.

Jensen stares at her blankly even though he just knows he is missing something. That fact is apparent. He hasn’t lost all of his human interaction skills living with Jared.

Maria laughs a little and shakes her head. “I take it you’re not much one for gossip?”

Jensen shrugs. “I’ve mostly been avoiding getting petted by dragons who think I’m pretty.”

“My father was a rider,” Maria tells him bluntly.

Jensen stares blankly back at her.

“That actually doesn’t mean anything to you, does it?” she’s sounding downright amused now.

“No?”

“Jared is too sweet,” Maria says as she shakes her head.

“Hey,” Jensen protests. It isn’t that he disagrees, but he thinks that Jared would be slightly insulted by the attribute getting mentioned before his strength, beauty, bountiful treasure and prowess in bed.

“Dragons don’t feel comfortable with me,” Maria explains, ignoring Jensen’s offense.

“Why?” Jensen asks. He’d have thought that a rider’s child would be sought after. They would likely be comfortable with the idea, less apt to try to kill their dragon.

Maria sighs. “You know how dragonlings come about?”

Jensen nods his head.

“Well, a long time ago, dragons and their riders had the bright idea that riders producing other riders in the same manner would be a good solution to the problem of finding riders for each generation. It would lower the danger of bonding with just any human.”

That sounds logical to Jensen even though his skin crawls at the idea of just fornicating with some woman to get her pregnant. Being unfaithful, even with his partner’s blessing, is something that isn’t part of his character.

“I can see that idea isn’t appealing to you. It wasn’t appealing to the dragons either. Their reproduction is passionate, but not with each other. Dragons never have to touch each other. Humans do. Rider sharing happens, but…”

“Excuse me?” Jensen chokes out.

“Not all of the dragons and riders here are looking for babies,” Maria clarifies with a wink. “Riders are awfully pretty.”

“Oh,” Jensen says, a flush crawling across his features.

“Don’t worry,” she says. “I don’t think Jared swings that way.”

Jensen frowns as he watches Jared chit chat to a pretty red dragon and her petite, brunette rider. Jared’s eyes drift occasionally to the rider, and Jensen can see him appraising her beauty. A scowl forms on Jensen’s lips.

Maria laughs. “You’re just as possessive of him as he is of you,” she marvels.

“He’s my husband,” Jensen defends himself.

Maria sobers, and her face turns soft. “That’s sweet,” she says in a tone that is earnest instead of patronizing.

Jensen clears his throat and shifts uncomfortably. “So the dragons didn’t take well to the whole human intimacy thing?”

Maria shakes her head, apparently clearing it of wherever her thoughts had gone. “They had a hard time with how two riders copulated together. You might have noticed that your dragon has very steadfast ideas on how sex should be?”

Jensen flushes, but nods.

“Riding is sacred to them. Even the dragons that can bear to ‘share’ their riders can’t have sex with them if they aren’t in a ‘riding’ position. It’s hardwired into them. Sexual positioning is a big deal. Although, it is fun to get creative,” Maria muses.

“Right,” Jensen says awkwardly.

Maria flashes him a smile. “You’re adorable.”

Jensen scowls at her. Jared saying it is one thing, but another human?

“Anyway,” Maria says, “the human children grew up alongside the dragonlings. But as they aged, it became apparent that few of the humans were being picked as riders. Resentment grew about the whole ordeal. Humans need affection as much as dragons do, but what did they know of human society? Their parents may have lived in it, but it was foreign to them. And their dragon parents weren’t any better off. They had no desire to see their human offspring go out into the human world where they would be hurt. Yet they could not stay in their parents’ lairs forever.”

“It was, to be honest, quite the mess from beginning to end. The dragons don’t like to talk of it and avoid any mention of trying such a venture again,” Maria concludes.

“So they don’t care for you because you remind them of something their ancestors tried? That seems rather silly,” Jensen tells her.

“Dragon logic isn’t human logic,” Maria reminds him. “Or haven’t you figured that out yet?”

Jensen shrugs and peers out at his dragon only to find Jared showing off, darting through the skies, easily avoiding smaller and more aerodynamic dragons trying to catch him.

A low whistle echoes next to him. “I thought he was just boasting,” Maria sounds suitably impressed.

“Jared likes to back up his boasting with demonstration,” Jensen allows a glimpse of pride to show through.

“It’s a miracle you can still walk then,” Maria observes.

Jensen spins to face her again. “He hasn’t.”

“Oh, I’m afraid so. Passionate riders tend to make the best parents. They’re more attached to their dragons and bond more readily with their offspring.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Jensen mutters into his hands.

“Well, that would be unfortunate. I think you’ll dash the hopes and dreams of over half the lady dragons out there,” Maria nods her head to the growing crowd of women watching Jared’s aerial display. Their stares aren’t quite the lustful ones of maidens looking for a husband, but they’re similar enough.

Aghast, Jensen can’t take his eyes away from the sight of the female dragons. Over half of them are giving that all too familiar pleading look to their riders. “Gods. They’re practically dreaming of scale colors already, aren’t they?”

“Oh, they are far beyond that. Likely plotting out what treasures they’re going to part with for the babies’ first lairs and what sort of riders their little ones are going to bring home. Jared didn’t mention how sought after his pedigree and treasure keeping skills were?”

“I thought he was just, just being him,” Jensen admits with a wave of his hand.

“Good scales run in his bloodline,” Maria says like that is supposed to mean something. Maybe to dragons it does.

A shuffling sound keeps Jensen from having to pursue the subject of just how fantastic Jared’s scales are.

“There you are,” a soft voice says in what can only be a chiding tone. “I was lonely.”

“You are always lonely,” Maria teases fondly.

The woman approaching is young looking, but is leaning heavily on a cane as she walks. “I was lonelier than normal,” she says with a pout. “All of those silly girls out there, preening.”

“Aww,” Maria says as she leaves Jensen’s side to curl next to the woman, “you’re just as pretty as they are.”

The woman snorts and frowns, casting a glare out at the spectacle that is Jared showing off. “He’s prettier than I am.”

“Don’t tell him that,” Jensen cuts in before things get any more awkward. “He’ll be insufferable about it.”

The woman freezes, and her eyes widen. “Jensen,” she whispers.

Nervously, Jensen rubs the back of his neck and chuckles. “Yes?”

“You were talking to him?” the woman turns and stares at Maria like she’s grown another nose in the time her eyes were turned away.

“She was,” Jensen informs her.

“This is Melonia,” Maria addresses in the ensuing silence. “My dragon.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Jensen offers as he extends his hand.

Melonia eyes it warily before accepting it, shaking it once firmly before withdrawing. “You are as pretty as your dragon. They said you were his greatest treasure, but gossips so often lie that I did not believe them.”

“Mel, you’re making him uncomfortable,” Maria hisses.

Melonia rolls her eyes. “Riders are such funny, delicate creatures. If they are pretty, they should be told so. Often. With great enthusiasm.”

“Of course, Dear,” Maria says.

“Have you chosen?” Melonia asks Jensen.

“Excuse me?”

“They are saying that you and Jared have already chosen your dragon-mother and second rider-parent for your dragonlings. Have you?”

Both women look interested in the answer, but they aren’t eyeing him like he is a piece of fine horseflesh. Jensen rewards them for their restraint by answering them. “Not yet. We haven’t been here long.”

“Well avoid Bella and her rider. I don’t care how sparkly he is, he can’t make up for the utter mope and dope that are the two main facets of her personality,” Melonia says with a sneer.

“Duly noted.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So?” Jared asks the instant that they are alone in the tiny cabin that has been designated as theirs. It’s extravagantly decorated on the inside, but most of the bobbles are permanently affixed to whatever surface they’re being displayed upon. Jensen wonders how many treasures were absconded with before the dragons started bolting everything down.

“You’re apparently the most attractive dragon ever, and they all want to have your eggs,” Jensen deadpans as he starts to strip out of his tunic.

“I know!” Jared enthuses. “It’s perfect!”

“I think my definition of perfect and yours differ,” Jensen points out.

“No, no. My pretty rider misunderstands. The more they want us, the better our bartering position is. You are practically assured of getting first pick.”

“First pick of what?” Jensen asks.

“Eggs, of course,” Jared answers him.

“I don’t even want to think about the politics on that,” Jensen tells him.

“I don’t see why not,” Jared says. “It’s a good thing that we get to pick. Riders have a sense about where their eggs should go, you know.”

That sounds like a load of dragon nonsense to Jensen, but he doesn’t have the energy to tell Jared that. “How am I supposed to pick some dragon and rider to be co-parents to our children?”

“You just know,” Jared answers simply. “All riders do. The dragons have input into things, of course, but the riders are the ones who _know_.”

That seems like a lot of faith in something unproven to Jensen, but he holds his tongue. The pressure on him might be unfair, but he can’t argue with Jared about it. One of them has to make the choice, and Jared’s mind will be most likely to choose the prettiest or the wealthiest of the bunch. Jensen wants to make certain that their other child will be with the parents that will take the best care of it.

“See?” Jared says softly. “You already know.”

“I don’t,” Jensen says, shaking his head in denial.

“You do,” Jared insists. “Your mind is just confused.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Jensen tells him. “You’re thinking like a dragon again.”

Jared smiles at that. “You always seem to think that I can be something else.”

“I… I don’t want you to be something else,” Jensen admits.

“I know,” Jared dismisses. “You love me as I am, would be disappointed if I was not a dragon. It is the way of riders. They are besotted with our warmth and prettiness. No other could hope to compare to us.”

Jensen lets his face speak for him, but all his incredulous look does is make Jared preen harder, flexing his muscles and smiling like he’d just been given an entire carriage made of gold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Really?” Jared sounds like he is on the verge of pouting.

Jensen sort of wishes he could slap him. No. He wishes that he could slap him and have it hurt something other than his slapping hand. “You said it was my choice,” Jensen reminds him.

“Yes, but…”

“But what? My fabled rider prowess in choosing these things is less than par? Am I less than par now?” Jensen questions.

“They’re not exactly what I was expecting,” Jared hedges.

Jensen huffs. “Well, I want our second egg to be with parents that will take good care of him or her. I haven’t found another pair that are as invested in the idea of having children. If either of our children take after you, they’re going to need to be doted upon day and night.”

“You don’t dote upon me day and night,” Jared points out with a sad shake of his head.

“You’re an adult,” Jensen dismisses, “and that isn’t the point. The point is that there isn’t another rider who knows as much about dragons as Maria does. Not in our age bracket, anyway. And Melonia seems very caring for a dragon.”

“Dragons are always caring,” Jared says with a scowl.

“Not what I meant,” Jensen answers him. “I think that she has a better perspective on what it means to raise a child without certain… prejudices. If the little one breaks something, I don’t see her being as overly upset about it as some might. Priorities are important.”

Jared sighs and frowns.

“Don’t tell me that you’re being accusatory like the rest of them,” Jensen warns. “I don’t like that idea, Jared.”

“I’m not,” Jared denies. “I’m just worried about certain defense aspects of the arrangement. Lame dragons are still dragons, but in an evenly matched fight with a knight of valor, Melonia will not be able to defend our dragonling.”

“When was the last time a knight of valor came?” Jensen retorts. “I know it is a possibility, but defense is but one of the aspects to being a parent. Aside from that, I am not stupid enough to discount Maria’s strengths where I am weak.”

“You are not weak,” Jared rebuts.

Jensen shakes his head. “I am. I know that you do not think so, and that is sweet of you. But the truth of the matter is that I am stubborn in my human ways. If I am set in them, I can only imagine what other riders might be holding onto. Those ways are mostly foreign to Maria. Between the two of us, we balance each other out.”

“That… makes some sense, I suppose,” Jared concedes.

“Like you have another choice?”

“You are going to hold my words over my snout forever,” Jared laments.

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to make up for it. Possibly by scaring my innards out of my mouth on the flight home.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The breeding pools are not what Jensen expected. In his mind, he had envisioned something rather grand and ornate. Dragons are so obsessed with beauty that he half thought to find himself in an almost magical oasis.  
  
The reality is that there is slime everywhere. The pools are dark and rugged. Hidden deep inside of the meandering passageways of caves, they were a rather foreboding sight.  
  
The only clue that Jensen would’ve had that the pools were special was the fact that they did not have the reek of stagnant water to them. They bubbled and flowed and steamed like a swamp heated in a soup kettle, but their fragrance was most pleasing. The steam from the heat of them cloyed at his nose, but it didn’t strangle him with its scent.  
  
He could see where even the most dedicated of dragon hunters might overlook the place as inconsequential to their quest. With the exception of how the pools smelled, Jensen would swear that the unappealing stone pools would be the last place a dragon would ever willingly go. Rarely had he viewed scenery so unappealing.  
  
“So which one is ours?” Jensen asks as he follows Jared through the twisting pathways.  
  
“The best one,” Jared answers.  
  
Jensen laughs. “Of course.”  
  
“I mean that.” Jared stops to turn around and face his rider. Jensen can barely make out his features. Only some oddly glowing moss illuminates the area, but Jensen can see Jared’s eye glittering in the darkness. The effect is more disturbing than comforting.  
  
“I meant no offense,” Jensen soothes him.  
  
“I know,” Jared says after a moment, the hard look evaporating from his eyes like evening mists being chased away by the sun. “I am, perhaps, a bit nervous?”  
  
“You?” Jensen asks.  
  
“I have never fathered little ones before,” Jared notes.  
  
“I should hope not, else we’d be having one of those discussions that you so love to have,” Jensen says.  
  
“There is some pressure involved with this,” Jared continues as if Jensen hadn’t spoken. “My line is strong and our name prestigious. What if I make a mistake? Perhaps I miss the eggs and improperly fertilize them? Perhaps the waters will not help the eggs form their shells. Perhaps I will be overcome with clumsiness and fall into the pool.”  
  
“You are worrying.” Jensen is dumbfounded. “All my fears and concerns, all of your boastfulness and pride, and now you fret?”  
  
“It is natural,” Jared huffs.  
  
“It is insane,” Jensen corrects. “You’ll do fine. We have the ‘best’ breeding pool reserved, remember? Surely there will be sufficient footholds for you as you… spill onto the eggs.”  
  
“Yes. Yes,” Jared exhales. Jensen cannot see the relieved smile that forms, but he knows it is there. “But what if I cannot perform?”  
  
“I thought that was what I was here for? To make certain that you have no such issues?”  
  
“Yes, but what if…”  
  
Jensen leans up and silences him with a kiss. “You’ll be fine,” he assures him.  
  
Jared doesn’t say anything more, just grabs Jensen’s hand and starts walking again. The pool that he leads them to is deeper than some. There are scratches and holes in the stone surrounding it that Jensen knows have been made from dragons coming there to do the same thing that they are.  
  
In the middle of the pool, two eggs are sitting. They’re dangerously translucent, even in the dim glow of the cave. They look almost gelatinous in their state.  
  
“Two, good,” Jared mumbles as he starts to disrobe. He’d been jittery about the chance that there might be an odd number of eggs, fretting about it in ways that Jensen had rarely seen Jared worry.  
  
“So what do you need me to do?” Jensen asks even as he starts sliding his fingers down the curve Jared’s bare back.  
  
“What do I always need you to do?” Jared purrs, spinning around so fast that Jensen doesn’t have time to move his hand away. Instead, it trails over Jared’s hot skin, coming to rest over his stomach.  
  
In response to Jared’s question, Jensen leans forward to place a kiss against his chest. Mouthing over his skin to Jared’s nipple, biting at it gently.  
  
Jared lets out a small rumble. “Yes, that.”  
  
Smug isn’t a good look on Jensen, but he figures that with the dim lighting, he can pass it off as something else if Jared notices. Not that he is worried about it. Jared wouldn’t think twice about Jensen looking smug. In fact, he’d encourage it.  
  
“No performance issues?” he whispers as he lets his fingers trail down Jared’s sides. They naturally settle on the sharp points of his hips, so Jensen rests them there, stroking his thumbs over the thin skin that stretches down towards Jared’s groin.  
  
“None,” the breath of Jared’s whisper brushes against Jensen’s face.  
  
“Then let’s get to it, shall we?”  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Waiting for the eggs to harden is the worst part about the entire reproduction scenario. If Jensen had ever been told that beforehand, he would’ve laughed. But there isn’t anything he can do except let time pass by, and he has never been the sort of man to let that happen.  
  
Jensen likes to plot and plan and work towards some type of goal. But the nursery has long since been set-up, and rearranging the exorbitant amount of baby bobbles is more Jared’s area than his own.  
  
The gifts from Maria and Melonia are already arranged. Their answering gifts have long since been delivered. Their agreed upon terms of parenting are signed and ratified.  
  
There is literally nothing left for Jensen to do except for pick which egg is coming home with them. There are not words in Jensen’s vocabulary to express how much he does not want that ‘honor.’ It doesn’t set well with him, leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. He knows that it is normal, both the splitting of the eggs and his resistance to the idea.  
  
Jared assures him that once the little ones hatch that they’ll be bonded together. Doubting Jared’s word isn’t the problem though. Jensen, for all of his original resistance, is already attached to his children. He can’t imagine choosing between them.  
  
“Just a few more days,” Jared says as he bustles out of the nursery. The room itself is emanating heat now. Dragonling rooms are made with some type of rock system where the stones are heated to a consistent temperature that will keep the egg warm until it hatches. Most days, Jared will use his dragon breath to warm the stones. On the days that he cannot, there is a small wood stove that Jensen can use to heat the room if it cools too much.  
  
From what Jensen understands, the dragonlings will most often curl up on the rocks once they hatch, baking their tiny, baby scales on the hot surfaces. That sounds perfectly horrifying to him, but he has seen Jared sunbathe and _firebathe_ enough to know that dragons think that high levels of heat are a good thing.  
  
Of course, dragonlings also tend to form strong attachments to their parent-rider, so Jensen can expect to have a baby dragon crawling into bed with him some nights. From what he can gather, his reduced heat output is more than compensated for with his inherent ‘riderness.’  
  
Jared tried explaining it in detail to him, but after a while it was more Jared’s lips moving with accompanying sounds rather than any meaningful dialogue. Baby snuggling is perhaps the one thing that Jensen feels somewhat qualified for. He is sure that he can figure out something else to do until then.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
“Which one?” Jared asks for what feels like the thousandth time.  
  
“Shush, I’m thinking,” Jensen warns him even though it won’t do much good. His dragon is bouncing on the soles of his feet, looking like he wants to take to the skies and fly loop-de-loops. Knowing Jared, that thought isn’t far from the truth.  
  
The eggs are still sitting exactly where their mother deposited them, but instead of being translucent gobs of goo, they have smooth shells covering their soften membranes from sight.  
  
The Dragon of the Spawning Lair has assured Jensen that both eggs had healthy, live dragonlings inside of them. The Dragon of the Spawning Lair had been at his job for a very long time and knew his business. At least that was what Jared had said. Jensen had been caught up on the fact that of all the dragons in the world, the only ones with titles were the ones who oversaw the birthing pools.  
  
They were the most revered of all dragons. They were also the most secretive. They were not selected for their beauty, but rather for their ability to blend in with their surroundings. Their colors were drab greens and stone greys. When they had to fly, they always did so in secret, avoiding hours of the waking day of humans and never roaring in the night to cause terror.  
  
They were the closest thing that dragons had to a ruling body, and the only thing they did was preside over the egg pools. Although, Jensen could admit he could see the need. He could only imagine the sorts of fights that two dragons might get into over their precious children.  
  
“The bigger one, right?” Jared’s impatient voice interrupts again.  
  
“They’re both the same size, now hush,” Jensen hisses.  
  
Beside him, Maria chuckles. Her dragon keeps quiet, but Jensen assumes that is only because Melonia is quiet by nature. Her nerves do not appear to be any better than Jared’s.  
  
“The one on the right,” Jensen finally announces. He has no great feeling towards his decision, but he is not about to announce that to the other three people in the cavern. It would crush Jared’s heart for one thing. As the rider, Jensen is supposed to have some sort of mythical ‘knowing’ that leads him to correctly splitting up the eggs.  
  
Jensen doesn’t have that tug. He wants to take both of the eggs home, yes. But he has dismissed that thought as normal. Despite all of the wonders of dragon bonding that are supposed to happen, he is still leery about allowing his second child out of his sight.  
  
To his surprise there is no arguing. At least, there isn’t any in words. Jared morphs into his dragon form almost instantly, darting to pluck Jensen’s chosen egg out of the steaming pool. Melonia does the same to the other egg, and the dragons hiss at each other when their wings brush in the small quarters.  
  
Both of them freeze and glower at each other. A rumbling growl travels up Jared’s throat. It sounds hideous, like a mountain full of rocks tumbling against each other.  
  
“Jared,” Jensen calls out. He does not want a fight to break out. Not in such a small space, not when his… his _children_ could get damaged.  
  
Jared ignores him and hisses at Melonia again.  
  
She drops her snout a few inches and coos back at Jared.  
  
 _“Silly dragoness,”_ Jared fumes as he struts past Jensen on three legs, the fourth curled protectively around their egg.  
  
Jensen follows him without looking back at the other rider and her dragon. He doesn’t want to see them taking his other child. He’s not sure he could handle it. The emotion is silly, really. He doesn’t have any investment in the other egg, and he’ll keep telling himself that until his soul believes it.  
  
Still, he doesn’t chastise Jared once they are back out in the open. He knows that dragons become jealous of their eggs, and he also knows that dragons are invested in proving how superior they are. He doesn’t feel up to arguing with Jared over his ego, especially not when his own emotions are so closely mirroring his dragon’s.  
  
“You have a good grip?” he asks instead.  
  
Jared snorts at him.  
  
“You can take the egg home first and come back if you want,” Jensen continues.  
  
 _“You are most adorably worried about our little one,”_ Jared teases, _“but I am a strong dragon who could easily carry the both of you while blinded with my tail missing.”_  
  
“Fatherhood hasn’t lessened your pride, has it?” Jensen muses as he gingerly climbs aboard Jared’s withers.  
  
 _“Dragonlings are a source of never-ending pride,”_ Jared informs him as he flaps his wings and lifts off.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The nursery is kept as warm as the warmest of summer days. Every morning, afternoon and evening, Jared blows hot fire on the porous stones that are carefully arranged in the room. It what is best for the egg, but Jensen can’t watch when Jared applies the fire. He can’t fight away the fear that Jared might be cooking the poor thing.  
  
The cats love the egg. They curl up on its smooth shell and bask in the heat of the room. Jared finds it adorable, so Jensen paints a few pictures to remember the sight. If he sings to his egg while he’s doing it, that isn’t anybody’s business but his own.  
  
Melonia sends updates through the mysterious dragon network that conveys messages to Jared’s brain. Their other little one is doing fine. As far as Jensen can tell, that means that the egg is just sitting there being an egg, but Jared looks downright insulted every time his so much as suggests that their ‘gorgeous’ and ‘perfect’ egg can’t indicate anything about their soon to be hatching dragonling.  
  
The shell is pretty. Jensen can admit that easily enough. The creamy white of it is sprinkled with hundreds of colored speckles. In the dark, it looks like any old egg, but when the light hits it, the speckled glint and gleam like they’re made from precious stones and metals. It doesn’t surprise Jensen that a dragon’s egg would be so vain as to glitter.  
  
Most days, Jensen talks to the egg in the afternoons. Jared likes to take his flights then, so his enormous bulk can blot out the sun and scare more villagers into thinking he is fearsome and best avoided. Then again, when he favored night flights, he said it was to sear terror into the hearts of the townsfolk because they wouldn’t see him, but they would _know_ him.  
  
Privately, Jensen thinks that his dragon just comes up with a convenient excuse for changing his flight patterns.  
  
Still it is a shock that the day their egg begins to crack, Jared isn’t home. Jensen had always thought that he would be. It simply made sense that Jared wouldn’t miss such an important event.  
  
True, the crack is hardly anything but a fissure at the moment. Jensen might have missed it if not for the lantern flame flickering the right way. But it is there. It is there, and Jensen can’t take his eyes away from it.  
  
Though he is not as bonded to Jared as his dragons swears he will become, this is the first time that Jensen has truly regretted not having Jared deeper inside his head. Calling Jared home sounds like an excellent idea, but Jensen doesn’t have the capability to do that. He comforts himself with the knowledge that no rider that has been with his dragon for so short an amount of time would be able to do so.  
  
It isn’t much of a comfort. It also does nothing to quell the rising tide of panic in Jensen’s chest. He isn’t supposed to help the dragonling hatch, that much Jared has told him. Baby dragons come out of their shells in their own good time. Dragon superstition says that aiding them will make a dragon cranky in its disposition.  
  
The wait is a horrible sort of one. Minute by minute more adrenalin leaves Jensen’s blood stream. The loss only magnifies the worry taking up residence in his gut. Nothing happens. Nothing. It makes his nerves feel like they are poking through his skin.  
  
His skin is wound so tightly over his frame the he swears it leaps when Jared’s ‘I am back at my lair’ screech echoes through the stone hallways. Jensen’s voice mimic’s his lover’s, and Jared comes running.  
  
 _“Jensen?”_ Worry is clear in Jared’s tone.  
  
“Where have you been?” Jensen’s words are sharp. He is more than willing to take out his anxiety on Jared. He doesn’t much care that his dragon couldn’t have known that their egg was hatching. Jensen isn’t concerned with being logical at the moment.  
  
 _“What is wrong?”_ Jared ignores his tone, peeking around Jensen’s body to peer into the hatching room.  
  
“The baby is coming,” Jensen says. He knows that the right phrasing would involve hatching and dragonling, but he has waited his whole life to share the news of his child coming into the world. He isn’t going to ruin his moment by being ‘correct’ about things.  
  
Jared abruptly shifts into his human form. “He is!” he announces, big and happy.  
  
“We should go fetch pillows and cots and snacks,” He says, turning around so fast that his soft dick literally flaps around a bit.  
  
Jensen laughs at the sight. Then, because apparently he has turned into a crazy person, he cannot stop laughing. He laughs until he cries, and then slaps Jared when the dragon tries to offer a hug. “Go do what you said you were going to do,” he orders through his gasps. “I’ll be fine.”  
  
“I’ll get wine as well,” Jared promises.  
  
“I don’t think being drunk will be appropriate for this occasion,” Jensen points out.  
  
“A glass won’t hurt,” Jared argues, “and it might help with your nerves.”  
  
“I’m not having any nerves!” Jensen yells.  
  
Jared doesn’t look like he believes that. Jensen has the sinking feeling that he might agree with his husband.  
  
“Well I’ve been waiting all day. You’d be worked up too,” he says.  
  
  
  
Jared grins at him. “I’ll just go get some supplies.”  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It takes three days for their little one to poke his nose through the shell. Jensen was certain a time or seven that their dragonling was suffocating inside his shell. Jared had to physically pull him away twice, assuring him that he could hear the little one moving around, halfheartedly scratching at the inside of the shell before deciding to stay put.  
  
“It is hard for them to leave their shells,” Jared informs Jensen for what seems like the thousandth time.  
  
“What’s so great about the inside of a shell?” Jensen grouses.  
  
Jared smiles at him and pulls him close for a kiss. “They are very warm and pretty.”  
  
A second and a third kiss are given before Jared pulls away to go back to watching their egg. They have a half completed game of chess sitting on the floor, and Jensen is peeling potatoes. Jared had been helping, but as he had no compunction about eating said tubers raw, not many had been going into the soup kettle.  
  
The egg wobbles on the floor a bit before a crack sounds. An entire piece of shell flakes off the top, and a teeny-tiny white snout pokes out of the top of the egg before it drops back down. Jensen knew that the scale color wouldn’t start to come in until a few weeks after the dragonling hatched, but it is still unnerving to see such an absence of color.  
  
The sight shocks him. It looks unnatural. Scales aren’t supposed to be that color.  
  
Jared, of course, doesn’t have the same moment of surprise. “Oh, come now little one,” he says as he stands up and walks over to the egg to peer down inside of it, “your father-rider is anxious to see you.”  
  
Jensen can hardly believe his ears when a sassy sounding, “Bwaaa,” floats out of the egg in response.  
  
Jared laughs and smiles. Jensen drops his half peeled potato and maneuvers over to the egg. He can’t see anything inside save for a swath of white scales. He assumes that means his baby his hiding from the light.  
  
It figures that he managed to pick the egg that decided to take after its father’s stubborn side. Jensen has questionable taste. He knows this. Thankfully living with Jared has taught him a few tricks in how to cope with his poor judgment.  
  
“Look! Shiny!” Jensen cheers as he dangles an expensive necklace over the hole in the egg. He doubts that their baby knows words yet, but it responds to noise just like any infant does. The mass of translucent white scales shifts around in the egg and a tiny skull flashes into view. Once its little baby eyes set their myopic gaze on the glinting piece of jewelry, Jensen knows that he has won.  
  
“Awwwwwww!” it screeches, tiny snout rising up through the hole it made.  
  
Jensen is a horrible, terrible father and yanks it just out of the reach of his child’s snapping jaws.  
  
“Awwabbaa!” the dragonling sounds unhappy, but it lunges upwards again, splintering off more parts of its shell as it pushes its small bulk through the opening.  
  
“Jensen!” Jared shouts, though he doesn’t exactly sound like he is chastising him. Even Jared has gotten a bit on edge after watching the egg for so long.  
  
“Bwaaabaaaa,” the dragonling whines as it settles back down in its shell. Its nostrils are flaring, and it is panting with exertion.  
  
“Poor baby,” Jensen consoles his child. “Daddy will give you all sorts of shiny things if you finish coming out of your shell.”  
  
Two little dragon forearms lift up out of the shell towards Jensen. He doesn’t know if his baby is asking to be picked up or if it is just trying to reach for the necklace that Jensen still has in his hand, but he can’t bring himself to care. He crumbles and hands the necklace over to his child before lifting the surprisingly warm, almost hot body into his arms.  
  
“There, there,” Jensen instantly soothes as his dragonling tucks its head under his chin and clutches its necklace to its chest.  
  
Jared sniffles. Then sniffles again. Then blows his nose in a very disturbing way.  
  
“Are you crying?” Jensen asks.  
  
Jared answers him by throwing his arms around the both of them. “I love you so much,” he blubbers. Jensen doesn’t ask which one of them he means. He finds that he doesn’t care.

  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Their son hatches a full week before his sibling does. That week is filled with cuddling, snuggling and feeding. Jensen is reasonably attached to his son, so he isn’t truly bothered by the fact that his child is eating solid foods straight from the egg.  To be honest, he is relieved by it. Cutting up larger portions of vegetables and cooking more meat is far easier than milking the cows and goats dry trying to keep up with a dragon’s appetite.  
  
Jensen always suspected that Jared ate far more than he let on, and his son’s appetite only proves it.  
  
“Gnnagnnah. Pfft,” the little dragonling comments from his nest of pillows on the kitchen floor.  
  
“Yes, you are,” Jensen replies absentmindedly. For a baby, their young one is very chatty. He makes all manner of noises and coos and grunts. He also has a habit of stealing things and waddling away with them. Jared thinks that the practice is delightful, only scolding when he thinks that the ‘treasure’ isn’t fancy enough.  
  
“GRRRRR!” Jeron growls as he stalks a tuber across the floor.  
  
“Where did you get that?” Jensen demands.  
  
His son gives him an innocent stare as he starts to gnaw through the pale orange flesh, skin and all.  
  
“That isn’t yours,” Jensen warns.  
  
Jeron blinks twice before tears start to well up in his eyes and trail over his pale white snout. A wave of affection filters into Jensen’s conscious.  
  
“Don’t you try that, ‘I love you Daddy,’ trick with me,” he announces as he scoops the pudgy mass of scales off the floor. Jeron curls into his arms almost instantly and starts cooing to the remains of his half masticated snack. Jensen gives the tuber up as a loss as he deposits his son back in his nest. He half wishes that he’d had the time to adjust to having a newborn around like human parents do.  
  
The whole egg to instant movement thing is a bit hard to adjust to, and the baby version of a dragon is somehow _more_ demanding than the adult. Jensen should have thought about that somewhere along the way, but he had been too busy arguing with Jared over what they were going to name their child. Jensen had been set against having a ‘J’ name. Jared had begged and pleaded and given him a blow job and somehow Jensen had changed his mind.  
  
“You and your father are going to give me grey hair,” Jensen informs Jeron.  
  
His son ignores him in favor of crunching on his purloined vegetable.  
  
Jensen is halfway back to the counter, where he’d been preparing dinner, when a second, more demanding presence starts up in the back of his head. For a split second, he thinks it is Jared trying to play some sort of trick on him. But the tone is all wrong. It is confused, soft and far too musical.  
  
Jeron’s cooing takes on a different timber, and soon enough the echo in the back of Jensen’s head starts cooing along in counterpoint. It finally occurs to him that the ‘voice’ is that of his other child. He had known that eventually the other dragonling would hatch. Jared had told him that they would be bonded regardless of distance, but Jensen hadn’t thought it would be quite so instantaneous.  
  
Not knowing what else to do, Jensen picks Jeron up from his nest again, cuddling the little one close. Hesitantly, he begins to hum along to his children’s cooing. A flicker of excitement bubbles out from both of them, and somehow he knows that Jeron’s sibling begins to croon louder just as he does.  
  
It is a magical moment, and Jensen is ashamed that one of his thoughts is that he is glad their ‘singing’ voices take after their mother.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
“It’s a girl!” Jared announces as he comes home from his latest scavenging hunt.  
  
“Is she now?” Jensen asks as he helps unload the bushels of berries that Jared has brought with him. “You had a long flight today,” he comments, “these aren’t in season yet.”  
  
Jared looks shifty for a moment before beaming. “I wanted fruit tarts?” he asks as he pats his belly imploringly.  
  
“No doubt,” Jensen says, eyeing his husband critically. “But you always want something to eat and are rarely particular about it, so why the flight south?”  
  
Jared shifts from foot to foot before dashing out of the room. Jensen does not follow him. He can feel the giddiness almost pouring off his dragon. Whatever secret Jared is hiding, he doesn’t consider it to be a bad one.  
  
“I was going to give you this after dinner,” he says as he holds out a lute towards Jensen. “I heard your singing earlier, and it was so pretty. You should teach the children to sing. It will help them woo their riders when they are older.”  
  
“You were listening?” Jensen asks as he takes the instrument from Jared’s hand.  
  
“Of course! Melonia says that it was very touching and that she is jealous. Her rider is… gifted in other areas.”  
  
“You were discussing me?” Jensen asks.  
  
“Yes. Of course, you are my greatest treasure, and I…”  
  
“What about Jeron?” Jensen interrupts.  
  
Jared frowns and tilts his head to the side. “He is sleeping, why?”  
  
“Isn’t he your greatest treasure?” Jensen prods.  
  
“He is my child,” Jared responds slowly. “You are my rider. Treasures are to be kept. Children are to be raised. But without one’s rider, one cannot hope to raise younglings. When they grow up, our children will seek out lairs of their own. They are treasures of a sort, but they are not our riders.”  
  
“Besides,” Jared continues after a moment, “you would be displeased with me if he was. I have two children, do I not? Picking favorites is bad. Like telling your prized silver that it is not your ruby collection and therefore not as important,” he finishes with an emphatic nod that makes Jensen smile.  
  
“You are unique,” he says as he leans up to press a kiss to Jared’s cheek.  
  
“I am,” Jared agrees. “Now, Melonia very much wishes to name our second with an ‘M’ name, but Maria is being quite stubborn about it. I advised her that oral copulation was very effective in winning arguments, but the tactic was not so effective on her rider. Of course, this is because you are a most superior rider, and I informed her of this fact.”  
  
“You what?”  
  
“Why do you look at me like I’ve been eating the potatoes before they’ve been boiled again? It is a well-known fact that you are a most fine specimen of riderhood.”  
  
“I doubt that Melonia agrees with you about that,” Jensen points out.  
  
“Hmm, she did mention how you only compromised on the ‘J’ sound and not on the actual name,” Jared concedes. “But that is all for the best because she, unlike some rider I know, thinks that ‘Jade’ is a perfectly acceptable name for a dragon. Very expensive sounding.”  
  
“They named her Jade then?” Jensen asks.  
  
“Yes,” Jared says with a nod of his head.  
  
“Oh, well that is a pretty name,” Jensen says.  
  
Jared narrows his eyes. “That wasn’t what you said before.”  
  
“Because ‘Jade’ isn’t a boy’s name,” Jensen explains again.  
  
Jared stares at him. “That is still funny, human logic.”  
  
“What happened to me being the most superior and wonderful of riders?” Jensen challenges.  
  
“Well, even our greatest treasures need polishing on occasion,” Jared teases, hands reaching out to grab at Jensen’s hips.  
  
Jensen dodges out of their way. “Jeron will be up from his nap soon and likely hungry,” he chides.  
  
Jared’s stomach growls. “I suppose that supper should be had first. Young dragons do need their food,” he ponders.  
  
“Yes, young dragons do,” Jensen doesn’t bother hiding his smirk.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
“Now, shiny is good,” Jared’s voice is low and serious as he speaks, “but not at the expense of other treasures. You’ll hurt their feelings, and then you’ll be very sorry when your woolens begin to pill on you.”  
  
“I don’t think he can understand whole words yet, Jared,” Jensen notes as he comes into the nursery.  
  
“It is never too soon to start one’s education about the important things in life,” Jared counters as he hands his son a silver rattle.  
  
Jeron squeaks and clutches it in his forepaws, waving it around madly, little wings stretched out to the sides as he uses them to keep his balance. His tail thumps on the soft rug that he and Jared are sitting on, and his long pink tongue slips out the side of his snout as he concentrates on his new toy.  
  
Jensen’s heart melts a little at the sight, and he makes a note to paint the scene later. His skills as an artist might not be the greatest, but they’ll have to do. He won’t be able to commission a portrait of his son with the local artisan. At least, he won’t be able to do that until Jeron can change to his human form, and that won’t quite be the same.  
  
In his parent’s home, his own portrait is hung over the fireplace several times over each one depicting a different year of his life. They are small oil paintings that his father traded satchels and bow quivers for in an effort to cheer up his wife. She had known from Jensen’s birth that he would be an only child. Her travails had been difficult while in labor, and she had very nearly died bringing him into the world.  
  
His parents had tried for years to give him a sibling, but Jensen knows that they had never had anything but the slightest hopes for there to be another infant in the house. His portraits were his parents’ way of commemorating and enjoying their parenthood as best they could. He knows of no other family save the richest in their village that have so many paintings of their offspring.  
  
To continue that tradition is perhaps a touch extravagant, but Jensen doesn’t much care. Jared certainly will not find anything wrong with the indulgence. He’ll likely fly all over the countryside for paints once Jeron’s scales start coloring in so that Jensen has just the right shades for his artistic endeavors.  
  
“Jared?”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“Could you get me some paints the next time you’re out terrorizing the countryside?”  
  
“Depends,” Jared replies.  
  
“On?”  
  
“If I get kisses or not,” Jared replies, motioning Jensen to come sit next to him.  
  
“Greedy dragon,” Jensen mumbles as he leans in to give Jared a peck.  
  
Jared slides his hand behind Jensen’s neck and tugs him back in for a deeper kiss. The constant syncopation of rattling and tail thumping from their sons suddenly ceases. Jensen pulls away with a blush to find a pair of curious eyes on him.  
  
Jeron’s eye ridge crinkles, and he waves his forepaws in the air in his already learned motion of ‘up.’ Jared caves instantly, pulling his son into his lap. Jeron immediately pushes his snout against Jared’s mouth, and Jensen can’t help the snort that comes out.  
  
“I think that you’re not the only dragon in this lair that has a fondness for hoarding kisses,” he observes.  
  
“He has fine taste,” Jared says proudly, pressing a loud kiss on his son’s head.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The problem with dragonlings is that they aren’t pets or animals. They are children with claws and mobility and insatiable curiosity. They are also immune to all but the most drastic concepts of pain, and able to communicate all manner of horrible ideas to their twin through the mystical dragon communication system that Jensen still doesn’t understand even though he is a part of it.  
  
Not that he is worrying about the dragon communication network at the moment. He isn’t worrying about anything other than the fact that he cannot find his son. The only thing keeping him from panicking is the fact that Jeron is exuding utter calm and happiness. More worrisome is that Jensen is getting the vaguest sense of envy from Jade. He has learned over the past months to be wary of any time a dragon is envious.  
  
“Jeron, you come out this instant!” Jensen demands. He knows it is useless. For as advanced as a dragon’s motor skills are when they hatch, they aren’t born fluent in any language aside from the mysterious value of treasure.  
  
“Come on Buddy, it’s almost suppertime,” Jensen singsongs. “Where could you have gone to so fast?” he wonders aloud as he searches through the myriad of toys and purloined items that make up his son’s kitchen nest.  
  
Over on the hearth, the soup kettle bubbles and hisses as broth boils over the rim. Jensen glances at the fire out of habit. The food will be fine even if the fire is a touch too hot, but…  
  
“What are you doing?” Jensen demands in horror.  
  
Jeron ignores him in favor of rolling around in the coals and wood again. Brazenly he grabs a chunk of burning wood and pops it in his mouth, spitting it straight out again with a tiny puff of flame.  
  
“Get out of there!” Jensen all but shrieks. His baby is in the fire. His son is roasting himself, and Jensen is a horrible father.  
  
Jeron ignores him and proceeds to play a game of ‘catch the flame,’ biting and snapping at every errant lick of fire that flares up.  
  
“Baby, come to Daddy,” Jensen says, reaching for his child, trying to grab hold of him.  
  
“Jensen!” Jared yells form behind him, pulling him out of the way. “What are you doing? You could hurt yourself.”  
  
“Our son is in there!” Jensen yells, struggling against Jared’s hold.  
  
“He is a dragon,” Jared tells him.  
  
“He’s a baby!” Jensen argues back.  
  
“A baby dragon,” Jared replies, his voice soothing and low. “We like fire, Jensen. It feels good.”  
  
“He could burn his eyes out!” Jensen insists stubbornly.  
  
“He won’t,” Jared assures him.  
  
Jensen glares at him.  
  
“But I will fetch him out for you anyway,” Jared adds on quickly, turning and rolling up his sleeves before plucking his now protesting son out of his fiery playground. Jeron is covered in ashes and steaming.  
  
“Naagrrrrrr,” he comments loudly, turning his paws towards Jensen apparently deciding that Jared is the mean parent for ending his fun time.  
  
“No, Little One, you’ll burn your father-rider if he holds you right now. This is why we must always make certain not to touch fire before upcoming snuggle sessions,” Jared counsels his son.  
  
“Mmmgrrrwark,” Jeron says as he slumps back in Jared’s hold, the fabric of Jared’s shirt singing at the touch.  
  
“I’ll go fly him around a bit and cool him off,” Jared says awkwardly. “You just, have a glass of wine or two and try to relax.”  
  
Jensen wants to sorely argue with Jared about that. He wants to pick a fight, but if he is honest, he desperately wants an entire flagon of mead. “Give him a bath while you’re at it,” he orders, “but after he is cooled off. I don’t want him catching something or, or fusing his scales together or…”  
  
“I know,” Jared cuts in softly. “I shall take utmost care of him.”  
  
“You’d better,” Jensen warns. “Oh, and Jared?”  
  
“Yes, Pretty Rider?”  
  
“You’re getting me a fireplace grate.”  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End


End file.
